Surviving Seventh Grade
by theheartyearns
Summary: Our favorite bohemians go through their first year in middle school and try to survive massive amounts of homework, crushes, peer pressure and more. Takes place in 2006. Don't like that? Don't read it. Rating for language. DISCONTINUED.
1. Intro to Maureen, Mark, and Roger

This is my first RENT fic so be as nice as possible. I do not own RENT, Panic! At the Disco, or anything you recognize. Enjoy!

Surviving Seventh Grade

Chapter 1-Intro to Maureen, Mark and Roger

_Maureen_

Maureen was sitting on her bed, listening to her new Panic! At the Disco CD, and flipping through the latest issue of Girl's Life magazine. Her music was blaring at the loudest volume it could go, and her window was open for air. It was absolutely disgusting outside, a peak temperature of 97 degrees. _What a day for the air conditioner to be broken_, thought Maureen.

"MAUREEN!" Her mother came into the room, furious.

"What?" Maureen asked, wondering what she could have possibly done now.

"Your music is entirely too loud! Turn it down!" She cried.

"Sure, sure, whatever," Maureen answered. Her mother left the room and closed the door behind her. Maureen didn't even bother to lower her music. Anything that ticked off her mother was a one-way ticket to entertainment for her. She loved seeing her mother mad, even if it got her into trouble. She made Maureen mad sometimes, but it was still entertaining. Just as the song came into the chorus for a second time, Mrs. Johnson came back into Maureen's room, walked over to her radio, unplugged it, and carried it out of the room without so much as a single glance.

"Bitch," Maureen muttered under her breath.

"I will have none of that language in my house young lady!" Maureen's mother called to her from the hall.

_Whatever_, Maureen thought. She got up to get her old, decrepit, unused walkman from her desk drawer. She hoped it still worked. It didn't make sense to her. Her older brother Brian could blast his music 24/7 and her mother would never say anything to him. Her other brother, Chris, could stay out until 6:00 in the morning with his friends, but when Maureen asked to be picked up from her friend's house at 8:00, all she got was a cool stare and a promise to be picked up at 5:00. She never bothered to talk to her mother about the way she was treated because her mother would deny it and tell Maureen it was all in her head. But she knew it wasn't. It was common knowledge throughout her whole family that Maureen's birth was totally unplanned. Her parents had planned to have two children, two years apart. And they got that. But three years later, a few bottles of wine and an eventful night later, Maureen's mother found herself pregnant with a third child. Maureen always knew she was treated differently because she wasn't planned. It depressed her sometimes, but it usually didn't matter to her, because she decided at eighteen she was moving to New York City to become an actress on Broadway and she would never have to associate with her family again.

Her mother came back into the room with a letter for her. The return address said "Ben Franklin Middle School." Maureen decided she'd open it later.

As she put her CD into the walkman, she couldn't help feeling a little sad. Not because of her family, but because the CD she'd been listening to had reminded her of her best friend whenever she listened to it. Right before Nicole had moved to Colorado the previous month, she decided to give Maureen something to hold on to and to remember her by. It was the Panic! At the Disco CD, Nicole's favorite. "No more of this show tunes junk. Listen to some real music," she'd said. Maureen was amused at that statement because Nicole was the one who turned her onto show tunes in the first place. Maureen really missed her. They hadn't been apart for more than two weeks since they first met in third grade. Now they'd been apart a month and it felt like forever to Maureen.

Sure, Maureen had other friends. But she wasn't as close with them as she was to Nicole. She didn't share that special bond with them like she did with Nicole. They were almost like sisters. It was Nicole who had first introduced her to performing when she forced Maureen to come along to her audition to the school play. It was Nicole who had showed her how to do a cartwheel so she wouldn't be embarrassed in front of everyone in gym class. And it was Nicole who had first introduced her to her crush. The boy she'd met through Nicole and hadn't stopped crushing on since third grade. His name was Roger Davis.

Roger had beautiful blonde hair that he spiked up like a rock star. His eyes were green and Maureen could get lost in them. Roger played guitar really well. She'd seen him play at the talent show in fifth grade and fell even more in love with him than she ever thought possible. His voice was smooth and lovely to listen to. He made her melt when he sang.

Roger's best friend was this boy who usually sat off to the side in class, listening intently and taking notes, while Roger was fooling around. He wore glasses, and dressed impeccably, the complete opposite of Roger, who wore jeans and band t-shirts and other things the "rocker type" would wear. He was kind of a dweeb. It seemed weird to Maureen that Roger's best friend was the complete opposite of him, but her and Nicole weren't really the same either. What was that kid's name? John? Marco? Lloyd?

_Mark _

"MARK! COME ON! WE'RE GOING!" Mark Cohen's mother was calling him from the car. He was inside, trying to find his other shoe, and looking threw the mail pile at the same time. He noticed a letter for him from his new middle school.

"I'M COMING MOM!" he called to his mother.

"NO! WE'RE GOING NOW! GET OUT HERE!" Mark grabbed what looked like his other shoe and ran out the door. They were going to the mall, where Mark, his mother, and his sister did their annual back-to-school clothes shopping. He hated every second of it. Every year, the same mall, she same stores, the same time of the summer: exactly one week before the first day of school. By this time all of the good clothes were gone, and only the dweeby ones were left. Roger, his best friend, offered to bring Mark along when they went shopping, but Mrs. Cohen wouldn't hear it. So he was stuck wandering through the girly stores with his older sister, and shopping for himself at JC Penny's and other loser stores that no one shopped at anymore. He longed to shop at a store with trendy clothes like Abercrombie & Fitch or something. But his mother wouldn't hear of that either.

When they got out of the car, Mark's older sister Cindy, who was going into ninth grade, looked down and Mark's shoes and cracked up.

"What?" Mark asked angrily.

"Your…Your…shoes…" she said between laughter. Mark looked down and noticed that he was wearing two different sneakers. One was pure white and the other was jet black. "Oh gosh…" Mark mumbled. Mark's mom came out of the car at this point. "What is so funny?" she asked. Cindy, still breathless and laughing, pointed at Mark's shoes.

"Mark, my goodness! You're wearing two different shoes!" Mrs. Cohen said.

"Yeah I know, Mom. Cindy already informed me of that," Mark said angrily.

"Don't worry honey. You need new shoes anyway. After we leave the store you can put them on."

"Whatever," Mark answered.

They went into the mall and went to JC Penny first. Mark groaned and turned down everything his mother picked out for him. "Mom! Why can't you just let me shop for my own clothes?" he asked after his mother showed him a multi-colored striped sweater. He could just imagine what Roger would say if he showed up at school wearing that. Mark pulled a pair of casual jeans off of the rack. "How about these?" he suggested to his mother.

"Oh my goodness! You can't wear jeans to school Mark!" his mother exclaimed, looking appalled.

"Why not? Everyone else does!" Mark said.

"You need to look nice for school," Mrs. Cohen said. "When I was a little girl we had to wear skirts and stockings to school everyday."

Mark sighed. He gave up. His mother was just going to have to pick out what she wanted him to wear, since she apparently knew best. "Fine. Whatever. Pick out what I'm 'supposed to wear' then," Mark said and walked away from his mother.

After they left JC Penny, they passed by a show store with music videos playing on little televisions and trendy shoes on display. "Mom, can we go in here?" he asked, pointed towards the store.

"No, dear. You need dress shoes to go with these outfits, not rock star shoes," she answered.

"What? Rock star shoes? Converse is cool!" Mark said defensively.

"No. And that is final."

"Can I at least get work boots instead?"

Mrs. Cohen gave in. "Oh, fine."

_Roger_

Roger Davis was in his living room, trying to find an outlet to plug his speakers into. "MOM!" he yelled.

"What?" she asked him from nearby.

"Don't we have any free outlets anywhere in this house? I need to plug in my speakers!" he said angrily.

"I have no idea. Ask your father when he gets home. Now get out from behind the television."

Roger emerged from behind the TV and straightened up. "What are you watching?" he asked as he caught a glimpse of the TV.

"A fashion show. They're showing clothes that are hot for the new school year," his mother answered.

Roger chuckled at the screen. A male model was walking down the runway in a multi-colored striped sweater. "That's something Mark would wear," he said. Then he left the room out of sheer boredom and went into his own room. He picked up his guitar and plucked a few strings, thinking. He'd been wanting to write a new song for weeks now, but he couldn't think of a subject. He had already considered love, but he never had a crush on anyone, so that didn't work. He thought about writing about Mark, his best friend, but that was corny. Roger sat and thought for a long, long time. He sat there and thought until he heard his mother calling him for dinner.

When he got into the kitchen, his father was sitting at the table, reading the mail. That was the weird thing about his father. He always had to read the mail right before dinner, and his wife wasn't even allowed to touch it until then. "Mail for you, Roger," he said as Roger sat down. _Who could be writing to me?_ He wondered. He took the envelope from his father and looked at the return address. "Ben Franklin Middle School," it said. _Oh great,_ he thought. _School stuff._ He opened up the envelope and found his school schedule. "Gross! I have to take cooking!" he announced to the whole table after studying it for a few minutes.

"Cooking is important," his mother said.

"Can't I take woodshop instead?" Roger asked.

"Cooking is a required course, Roger. You'll have to take it, and so does everyone else." Roger imagined Mark trying to crack an egg and getting it all over his hands. That cheered him up a bit. He devoured his dinner in a matter of minutes and got up to call Mark and find out if they had any classes together.

"Hello?" Mark answered after the second ring.

"Hey. It's me. You get your schedule?" Roger asked him.

"Yeah. What room is your homeroom?"

"E2-4."

"Mine too!"

"Sweet!" Roger exclaimed.

"How about Math?"

"Period 5, room D-6,"

"Me too!" Mark said.

"This is taking too long. Just rattle off your schedule and I'll tell you if we have anything in common," Roger said. He had a short attention span.

"Okay. Period one, Social Studies, room D215, then Gym, in the gym." Roger chuckled at that. "Duh, Mark!" Mark sighed on the other line. "Sorry. Go ahead," Roger prompted him. He knew that Mark hated to be interrupted. "Thank you. Next is Cooking, in A-15, then Science, in D2-5. Then Math, then two periods of English in room D2-1, lunch, Study hall in A-5, then music in A-11," Mark finished.

"Dude! We have practically she same schedule! Except I have Gym last instead of Music. What kind of music are you taking?"

"I think I have chorus," Mark answered. Roger laughed again. Singing was not something Mark did well. "Me too, I can give you pointers on how to sing on-key."

"Shut up!" Mark said. "Oh, I think Collins is on my other line. Gotta go." Collins was one of their good friends. His name was Tom Collins, but he went by Collins.

"All right man. Tell him to call me when you guys are through. Bye," Roger said and hung up. With Mark in most of his classes, middle school didn't seem like it would be too bad.

Please Review! Constuctive Critisicm ( i know i spelled that wrong) is welcome!


	2. Intro to Angel, Mimi, Joanne, Collins

**Hey, I just realized that there was sooo much if forgot to include in the A/N on the first chapter, so here goes. This story takes place in modern-day, because it's easier for me to write that was and easier for others to relate to.** **Also, the story is going to switch from the POV of the seven bohemians (Benny doesn't count because I don't like him) as you probably noticed by now. This chapter and the first one take place on the same day. Now I'll stop babbling on and on. So, here are the rest of the bohemian's stories, Enjoy! **

**Disclaimer: I don't own RENT. Darn. Also, if you're a guy, there's a little part about "that time of the month" in this story. You can skip it if you're uncomfortable reading it, it's near the flashback, it's not much, but I thought I'd warn you just in case.**

Chapter 2- Intro to Angel, Mimi, Joanne and Collins

_Mimi_

Mimi Marquez stepped out of her mother's car and looked at her new house. It had white, weird-looking siding on one part of the house and brick on the rest of it. It had large windows and a brown roof. It was sort of small, and Mimi knew she'd have to share a room with one of her little sisters. She hoped it was Ana, her sister who was nine; because she was the most mature out of them all. She had two other sisters, Maria who was seven, and her youngest sister, Consuela who was four and the most annoying little sister on the planet. She would only take help from Mimi, which could be a burden when Mimi was trying to do something important. "Mimi! Help!" Consuela called to her from the car. Mimi groaned and went to get Consuela out of her car seat. She unbuckled the various confusing buckles and lifted her sister out of the car, and gently placed her near the curb. She noticed the moving truck pull up in her new driveway. She hoped the movers didn't damage any of her furniture; she knew her mother would be furious.

Mimi sat on the lawn and sighed. She hadn't really wanted to move. She was perfectly happy back in Arizona, where she'd been living all her life. But her mother wasn't happy back in Arizona. Mimi's father was an alcoholic, and he'd sleep around with other women often, and he was always losing his jobs. Mimi's mother put up with it until one day when Mr. Marquez was supposed to bring Maria to a friend's house, stopped at a gas station on the way and accidentally left her there. Mrs. Marquez was livid and immediately filed for divorce and full custody of her four daughters.

Mimi didn't really mind that her parents had divorced though; she was never really close with her father and never really planned to be. He wasn't home often, and when he was he was either asleep or having an argument with his wife, later to storm out and do whatever he did when he was out. Even when Mimi was a little girl she didn't really play with him.

"ARE YOU KIDDING ME? ARE YOU FREAKING KIDDING ME?" Mrs. Marquez's voice brought Mimi back to earth. Apparently the movers had scratched an antique armoire given to Mrs. Marquez by her grandmother. Mimi sensed that a few more choice words were going to fly out of her mother's mouth at any second, so she hurriedly grabbed her sisters by the hand and brought them into the house. "Come on, we're gonna go see the inside," she said to them. The girls weren't very interested in the living room or kitchen, but they wanted to see their bedrooms. When they walked into the first one Mimi couldn't help but gasp. "Wow…" she said.

The room was larger then she'd expected. She knew it would fit two beds easily, and there would be plenty of room to put all of their other knick-knacks and toys and furniture. Maria dashed into the room and immediately started to plan where she was going to put her things. Ana joined her, and Mimi groaned. This would mean she'd be sharing a room with Consuela. Mimi hoped that she'd be able to get some peace and quiet in her new house, thought it seemed she would be stuck sharing a room, with Consuela, this didn't seem like it would happen. The four girls all had to share one room back in Arizona, and there wasn't much space left in it with four beds and four dressers. At least she'd get a little space for dancing in her new room.

After Mimi and Consuela had checked out their room, Mimi decided it was probably safe to go back outside. Sure enough, her mother had stopped yelling and was now calmly telling the movers where to put various items of furniture. Her sisters went to tell their mother who was sharing a room with who, and Mimi sat down on the lawn again.

Just as she got comfortable, she saw a boy who looked about her age walk out of his house and check out who was moving in. She got up to talk to him, brushing grass off of her skirt as she walked.

"Hi," she said when she reached him.

"Hi. I'm Angel," he said.

"Mimi."

"I guess you're the new neighbors?" Angel asked. He seemed nervous. Maybe he didn't talk to girls often.

"Yeah, My mom, my sisters and I."

"Where did you move from?"

"Arizona," she said.

"Wow. That's kind of far, isn't it?"

"Not really. Well, only about five hours by plane. Well, actually, we drove, so it took longer. Yeah, I guess you could say it's pretty far." Mimi wondered why she was babbling like that.

"What grade are you going into?" Angel asked her.

"Seventh," as she said this, she saw Angel's eyes light up.

"Me too!" Angel exclaimed.

Just then, Mimi's mother came over with a piece of mail for her. "Mimi, I think this is your school schedule," she said, handing the envelope over.

"Thanks," Mimi said. Her mother just stood there. "Aren't you going to introduce me to your friend?" she asked.

"Oh, right," Mimi said, grinning sheepishly. "Mom, this is Angel. Angel, this is my mom."

"Hello Angel."

"Hi. It's nice to meet you."

"Well, you kids have fun," Mimi's mother said and walked away.

Mimi opened the envelope and looked over her schedule. "Eww. We have to take cooking. I hate cooking," Mimi said, groaning.

"Hey, how about I get my mail and we can compare schedules?" Angel offered.

"Sure."

"Stay right here. I'll be right back." Angel hurried into his house and emerged a few minutes later with a sheet of paper. They put their schedules side by side on Angel's drive way and examined them in silence for a few minutes.

"Wow, we're in like a lot of classes together," Mimi said.

"Four."

"Right. Homeroom, Science, English, and Cooking," Mimi said.

They chatted for a while, about everything from movies to favorite foods to siblings.

"MIMI!" Mimi's mother was calling her from the front door. Mimi hadn't realized that she and Angel had been talking for while. The movers had already finished moving in the furniture and were getting ready to leave.

"I guess I have to go inside. See you around," Mimi said, and walked back to her house.

_Angel_

Angel liked Mimi. She seemed like a great person to be friends with. She was easy to talk to, and she talked about interesting things. She wasn't the kind of girl who only talked about herself; she was interested in what Angel had to say and his opinions.

"ANGEL! DINNER!" Angel walked into the kitchen where his mother, father, and older sister, Novalee, were already sitting at the table, waiting for him. He sat down with all eyes on him.

"So," his dad began. "You seemed to have bonded with the new neighbors. Are they nice?"

"Well, I didn't really meet the whole family. Just the daughter. She's nice."

"What's her name?" asked his mother.

"Mimi," Angel answered. "She's my age. We have some classes together."

"That's good," his mother said.

"Angel," his father said suddenly.

"Yeah, Dad?'

"Just out of curiosity, how many friends of yours are boys?"

"Milton…" Angel's mother said warningly.

"Um…Well… a few…" Angel stammered, looking down at his mashed potatoes, which he was no longer in the mood for.

"Milton, stop that," Angel's mother said. "His friends can all be girls if he wants to. It doesn't matter." She threw him an angry glare.

Angel's father rolled his eyes. "Whatever," he said. "Are you trying out for any sports this year, Angel?"

"Dad, you know I hate sports."

"Right, I thought so. Novalee, what about you?"

Angel's sister looked up, startled at being addressed by her father so suddenly. "Um…yeah. I was going to do um…softball, like I did last year," she answered. Angel's father didn't say anything else throughout dinner, but Angel knew he was thinking. Angel knew his father was thinking about how Angel wasn't the son he wanted him to be, and that he probably never would be. Lost in thought, Angel excused himself from the table and went into his bedroom.

Angel knew he was different, but he didn't think it was such a big deal. His father never seemed to be proud of him, no matter what he did. Angel knew that his father had wanted two boys, two sports-loving tough boys. He got a girl and a boy that wasn't so tough. Angel didn't like sports; he didn't like video games as much as the other boys in his classes, and most of his friends were girls. But that wasn't wrong was it? His father seemed to think so.

Angel loved art. He had always loved to draw and color when he was a little kid. He loved to design things, like clothes. He didn't only design boy's clothes, girl's clothes too. His father didn't know about that. And there was one thing neither his parents nor his sister knew about, and he hoped they'd never find out. Angel liked to wear make-up and girl's clothes sometimes. Whenever he was home alone, he liked to go into his sister's room and try on some of her skirts, or put on some of her make-up. And he liked it. Sometimes, when he was all dressed up in his sister's clothes, he _felt_ like a girl. Last year for Halloween, his friends (all of them girls) dressed up as boys, and he dressed as a girl, just for fun. He loved it. Of course, he'd never tell anyone that, but it was the best Halloween of his life. He felt so comfortable in girl's clothes.

_Joanne_

Joanne Jefferson was in her bedroom, organizing her school supplies. She had gotten her schedule earlier that afternoon, so her mother had taken her out to the store after lunch to buy her school supplies. She was nervous about starting middle school. She was never really a "people-person" or anything like that. She was very shy. Even at home, where she was the center of attention (because she was an only child) she was quiet. She had a few close friends who she would really open up to and talk to. They were the only people she wasn't quiet in front of.

Of course, being the "smarty-pants" she was she'd gotten placed in all-honors classes for her first year in middle school, meaning she was in class with none of her friends. And, to top everything off, none of her friends had the same lunch period as her either. When she'd told her mother this, she insisted that Joanne would make new friends. Her mother didn't know how hard it was for her to make friends. She just wasn't outgoing. Besides, most of the kids in her class thought of her as a brainiac or a nerd. She decided she'd just not associate with anyone in her classes and hang out with her friends on the weekends.

As she put her pencils into her pencil case in color-coded groups, she thought about the coming year. She was thinking about the talk her mother had given her at the end of sixth grade, a few days before the dreaded Maturity Night.

FLASHBACK

_Joanne was sitting in her room, reading. Her mother came in and sat on her bed next to her._

"_Joanne?" Joanne looked up from her book. "Yeah, Mom?"_

"_I think it's time we had a little talk," her mother began. _Oh great,_ Joanne thought. _Here it comes. The Talk._ Her friends had been talking about getting The Talk from their mothers for weeks now, ever since the notice came home about Maturity Night. _

"_Joanne, Friday night is Maturity Night, and I thought we should have a talk before then," her mother continued. "You're getting older. And when girls get older their bodies start maturing, and getting ready to start having babies. This is puberty. When a girl's body is ready, she starts menstruating. This is when-"_

END OF FLASHBACK

Joanne didn't really want to remember anymore of that talk. It was so awkward. Her mother talked about her period like it was something normal for a mother to talk about with her daughter, like shopping or something. Well, she knew it was a normal conversation topic, but not when the daughter was only eleven and really didn't want to think about these things. Joanne knew that she didn't want to be the first out of her friends to get it. She knew a girl who had gotten hers in the fifth grade. The fifth grade! Joanne would have died if that happened to her. She didn't care what age she got it at, as long as it didn't happen in school. That would be traumatic.

She was done putting away her supplies, so she looked at her schedule for the umpteenth time. Her honors classes were all in a row, from Second period to sixth. Math, E-5, English, E-10, Science, D-4, and Social Studies, D2-5. _Eww,_ She thought. _Two periods of English. Snore._ She didn't like writing very much. She had lunch ninth period, which she hoped was an okay time; she knew it was the last lunch period of the day, but she usually ate a big breakfast so she hoped she'd be fine.

Joanne finished going over her schedule, and started to clean her room. She hadn't straightened up in days. It was beginning to get a little messy. She put The Doll Palace, the book she'd been reading earlier, back in the shelf, in its proper place, in front of Four Stupid Cupids and behind Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. She couldn't stand it when her mother came into her room to tidy up and put a book in the wrong place. Then she put her pillows back on her bed in size order, because she'd been sitting on her bed and she messed them up. Once her room was clean, she sat down on the floor and put on her television. The Fairly Oddparents were on, good news because it was mindless television Joanne didn't have to think about. She could just laugh and the stupidity and forget her worries about middle school.

_Collins _

Tom Collins sat at his desk, on his computer. He was working on his website, where people could post questions on their homework and others could answer it. His friend Roger had given him the idea once last year, when Roger had said that he wished someone would post all of the homework answers on the internet where he could find them. Collins didn't really like cheating, but he figured if he was helping people, it was fine. He decided that if someone wanted to post an answer, they'd have to explain the answer first. _Like anyone would read the explanation anyway_, he thought. But at least it would be there incase they wanted to read it.

"THOMAS! GET OFF YOUR COMPUTER AND COME HAVE DINNER!" Collins groaned. He left his computer on and walked into the kitchen.

"Oh, I forgot, your schedule came today Tom," his mother said, handing it to him.

"Oh, cool!" he said, taking it and ripping the envelope open, knowing what he'd find. Sure enough, he saw that his main classes were all-honors, meaning that there was no way that Roger or Mark could be in those classes with him. _But we could still have lunch together, and gym, and maybe music, _he reminded himself. He looked back at his schedule. _Eww, cooking? They have got to be kidding me. _

"Mom? Can I call Roger and Mark?" Collins asked.

"Not now, Tom. We're about to eat. Wait until after dinner."

"Fine." Tom looked over at his baby sister, Natasha. She was flinging spaghetti around, getting it in her hair, all over her high chair, and even on the walls. _Why did mom have to make spaghetti?_ Collins thought as he got hit with some. He picked his sister's dinner off of the side of his head and grabbed her hand. He helped her eat her first few bites of food while running a play-by-play so she could learn on her own. He knew that she probably wasn't going to pay any attention to him though. Sure enough, once he had begun his own dinner, Natasha was back to flinging hers around. Collins sighed and tried to get his sister's attention. "Natasha! Look at Tommy! Look!" she looked over at him. "Watch what Tommy does, watch." He picked up his food, twirled it around on his fork and put it into his mouth. "Yummy," he said. "Now you try." He turned to his sister and put some spaghetti on her fork for her. The he let go of her wrist and, miraculously, she put it into her mouth. "Yummy," she said, echoing her brother. Collins watched in shock as she proceeded to try to wind more spaghetti around her fork (and failed miserably). He helped her out and she was able to eat a few bites all by herself. Collins' parents applauded. "Good work Tom! You got her to eat on her own!" his mother congratulated him. Collins went back to eating his own dinner, and helping his sister with hers every few minutes. Then he excused himself from the table and went to call Mark.

"Hello?" Mark answered after a long time of it ringing.

"Hey, it's Collins." Collins always liked when he introduced himself. He had been called Collins by his friends ever since he was little, because little kindergarten Roger had told him "'Tom' is not a cool name. We gots to call you a cooler name. How about your last name?" And that's what they did. The name stuck, so, seven years later, they still called him Collins and he still introduced himself that way.

"Hey. Did you get your schedule?" Mark asked.

"Yup. But I'm in all-honors classes, so let's skip the main ones 'cause there's no way we'll be together in those," Collins said.

"Darn. What period do you have Music?" Mark asked.

"First." He heard Mark sigh on the other end. "I guess you don't then?"

"Nope. How about Gym?"

"Eighth."

"Damn! That's when I have lunch!" Mark exclaimed.

"Man…We have _nothing_ together!" Collins was disappointed. Mark was one of his best friends. How could they have nothing in common? That wasn't fair.

"Wait…what bus are you on?" Mark asked. They lived close to each other, only a few blocks away. They'd been on the same bus since kindergarten.

"34," Collins answered.

"YES! Me too!" Mark said excitedly. At least they could start and end the day together. "Oh, yeah. Roger says you should call him."

"We should three-way. You guys have any classes in common?"

"Yeah. Practically our whole schedule," Mark said.

"Oh," Collins said, disappointed.

"Don't worry about it. We'll still see each other on weekends," Mark said.

"True. Hold on; let me three-way Roger. Be right back." Collins pressed talk and dialed Roger's number. After it rang once, he pressed talk again and announced his presence to Mark.

"Talk to me," Roger answered a few seconds later.

"Hey! It's Collins. And Mark," Collins said.

"Hey! How many classes have the three of us got together?" Roger asked.

"None," Collins and Mark said at the same time.

"None?"

"None," Collins repeated. "That's what you get for having a genius best friend."

Roger coughed a few times and the word "conceited" could he heard as he coughed.

"I am not conceited! I am merely being honest," Collins said, laughing. "Oh, Mark, I forgot to ask you, how was shopping today?" It was common knowledge to both Roger and Collins that Mark's mother took him shopping on the same day each year, and bought him dweeby clothes.

"Shut up, Collins!" Mark said. The sounds of Roger cracking up on the other line made Collins laugh harder. Collins could picture Mark, probably as red as a cherry.

"Guys, I hate to ruin your fun, but I have to go," Mark said.

"Bye, Marky," Roger said, still laughing.

"Don't call me that!"

"Bye, Mark," Collins said.

"Bye," Mark said and hung up.

"So what do you think his mother bought him?" Roger asked.

"I don't know. Corduroys?"

"Crap. I have to go. See ya…sometime," Roger said.

"Bye," Collins said and Roger hung up.

Collins was disappointed. His best friends weren't in any of his classes. He knew he'd make new friends, but it was just weird to walk in class without any of his friends beside him. He'd been in either Roger or Mark's class since they met in kindergarten, and it would be weird for them not be separated. Well, Roger and Mark were together. He sat on his bed, thinking about the new school year, and how he would miss being in class with his friends.

**Hoped you liked it! I'm sorry Mimi's was sooo long, but I didn't realize how much I was writing until I realized that her POV was 2 ½ pages. I also had problems writing Angel's POV for some reason. I don't know when the next chapter will be up, I have it started. hopefully soon! Please Review!**


	3. The First Day

**So...here's the next chapter. I'm sorry it's so long, but I just wanted to get the first day out of the way so I could focus on other stuff, like the character's relationships and such. Oh, and by the way, incase anyone thought of this while reading it, Mark's birthday is mentioned, but he doesn't have his bar mitzvah (sp?) because he's only turing 12. Just thought I'd clear that up because I thought of it too. Enjoy!**

**Disclamer: I don't own RENT. Sucks for me. Or anything else you recognize that I don't really feel like listing. **

_Italics are thoughts and indicate changes in character's POV_

Chapter 3- The First Day

_Mark_

Mark stood at the bus stop, hoping his outfit was okay. He was wearing pleated tan shorts, a collared shirt, and his new black Converse high-top sneakers. He had been talking to his cousin on the phone a few days after his shopping trip, saying how he wished that he had Converse, instead of work boots. The next day, his birthday, his cousin came over with a pair of black Converse for him. He was thrilled, and his mother was appalled. She changed her mind though, when Mark promised to do the dishes for a week if she let him keep the shoes. Of course, his mother agreed.

The bus pulled up in front of him, and he got on. Collins was sitting in the emergency door seat, saving it for him and Mark to sit in. Mark walked over and sat down.

"Collins, check out the shoes!" he said, lifting his foot to show his friend his shoes.

"Whoa! Converse! What happened?" Collins asked.

"My cousin bought them for me for my birthday."

"Shoes for your birthday? That's a little weird," Collins said.

"Shut up. No weirder than your present." Collins had bought Mark an electric toothbrush for his birthday. He was known for buying bizarre presents.

"Touché."

"Are you sure you weren't trying to tell me something?" Mark asked, testing to see if his breath smelled.

"No. If I was, I would have told you flat-out, 'Dude, your breath stinks' but I didn't think anyone had ever bought you a toothbrush before, so I did."

"Okay…" Mark said.

They sat in silence for the rest of the bus ride, which wasn't that long. The bus driver let them out of the bus and they walked into the back door.

"Great. I haven't even been in here five minutes and I'm already lost," Mark said, as they walked in.

"Nice move, Cohen," said a familiar voice behind Mark.

"Hi Roger," Mark said.

"Dude, look. I have a map. Where are we?'

"E-wing," Collins said. "I think. The E-wing is the green one right?"

"Yeah," Mark said.

"Dude, this is easy. We just go up those stairs and go straight."

"Cool," Mark said, as Roger and Mark parted ways with Collins.

_Mimi_

Mimi walked into the school with Angel, who seemed to have no clue where they were going, even though he had a map. "Angel, this is the D-wing. We need to get to the A-wing. Give me the map," Mimi said, taking the map out of his hands. She studied it for a few minutes, and then got them where they needed to be. Mimi and Angel chose seats next to each other and began chatting about nothing in particular. The principal's voice on the intercom ended their conversation.

"Hello and welcome back to school. For those of you new to Ben Franklin School, welcome! We hope you'll learn a lot and have fun in the process. To those of you older students, welcome back! I would just like to say that…" Mimi zoned out after that. She never really cared about what principals had to say on the announcements. Who does? Angel was doodling on his notebook. Mimi stared into space until the announcements were done.

"Hello," her homeroom teacher began. "I am Ms. Martinez. I am your homeroom teacher…"

_Maureen_

Maureen entered her Social Studies classroom and chose a seat. She hoped this teacher wouldn't be boring. Her homeroom teacher had such a monotone voice that she couldn't take in more than a few words that he said.

She watched as other kids walked into the classroom, walked by her, and looked at her outfit. She loved it when people looked at her. Even if she got a dirty look, she was still getting attention. She picked out her outfit with the thought in mind that she would get noticed and everyone would remember her for it. She was wearing a pink short-sleeved shirt that showed off what little cleavage she had, a pair of tan Bermuda shorts, and high, pink, almost knee length boots. Her brown curly hair was left alone, because she didn't want to take a half hour to style her almost impossible hair. But her favorite part of her outfit was her necklace. It had many different kinds of beads, all different shades of pink, in a pattern. It was one of those necklaces that were long and meant to be wrapped around her neck twice. She absolutely loved it.

The next person that walked into the door made her day better. It was Roger, followed by his weird friend with the glasses. They sat down near her, and she couldn't be more delighted. A few seconds later, her teacher walked into the room. "Hello class, and welcome to Social Studies. I am Mrs. Laske, your teacher." She had them all fill out a sheet with their information on it, such as their home phone number, and parent's names. After she collected them, she said, "Now, we're going to play a little game to get to know each other. Everyone, arrange the desks into a circle." They followed her instructions. Maureen purposely placed her next right next to Roger's. "We are going to go around the room and say our name and three things about ourselves."

The teacher started the game, and Maureen wasn't really listening. She was more interested in staring at Roger, who was doodling on his desk. Finally, it was Maureen's turn. "Hi," she said. "My name is Maureen, and I am a total drama queen. I love to act, and sing, and I love musicals. Look out for me in this year's school play!"

Then it was Roger's turn. "Um…my name is Roger, and I play guitar, and um, I write music and I like AC/DC." _He looks so cute under pressure_, Maureen thought.

Roger's friend went next. It was obvious that he was very nervous. "Um…Hi…My name is Mark," _Oh yeah_, Maureen thought, _that's his name_. "I like to…um…film things, and write screenplays and um...I like...um...reading." _That took long_, Maureen thought. After the game ended, they moved their desks back in rows and Mrs. Laske put them in their assigned seats. Then she told them to move their desks with the person next to them, and work on a worksheet about Social Studies. Maureen pushed her desk to the person's next to hers. She gasped when she saw that it was Roger. _Life is good_, she thought. "Oh, and this person will be your row partner until I move your seats," Mrs. Laske added.

"Hi. I'm Maureen," Maureen said to Roger.

"Roger. Let's just do this stupid worksheet so I can get back to writing this song."

"You write music?" Maureen asked, like she was completely clueless.

"Yeah."

"That's cool." She flipped her hair. She'd learned how to flirt when her older cousin Amber came to visit and taught her all she needed to know.

"Uh huh. You look familiar."

"I do?" _Duh, Roger! Third and fourth grade!_ She thought.

"Yeah. I think you were in my class once..." _Twice_. "Wait...Third grade, weren't you the girl who spilled her juice on her pants and ran out crying?"

_Oh god! I thought no one remembered that!_ "Um...I don't remember. Maybe that was me," she said lamely.

"Yeah, that was definitely you."

"Are we going to do this worksheet or not?"

"Sure. Whatever."

Ten minutes later, Maureen walked out of the classroom, so embarrassed. Of all people, _Roger_ had to remember that day in third grade? _She_ barely remembered it!

_Mark_

"Hey, Mark! Guess who my 'row partner' is?" Roger asked Mark as they left Social Studies.

"Who?" Mark asked, though he knew perfectly well who.

"Remember Maureen? That chick that spilled juice all over herself and cried in third grade?"

"Oh. Cool." _Of course I remember her! She's the girl I've had a crush on since fifth grade! _He thought.

"Hey...isn't she the girl you've had a crush on since fifth grade?"

_Okay, that was weird. _"No comment," Mark said, and hurried downstairs to the gym.

_Collins_

Collins walked into first period music, right on time. He was almost late, because the wing his classroom was in was very far from the chorus room, and he also got lost. He looked around for an empty chair and found one next to a Hispanic looking boy. The boy looked up from where he was drawing an elaborate picture of a bird on his notebook. "Hi," the boy said. "I'm Angel."

"Tom. Collins. My friends call me Collins," Collins said. "You draw really well." Collins gestured toward Angel's notebook.

"Thanks."

"Class, I am Mrs. Garofalo and I am your chorus teacher," the teacher addressed them. "Before we start, I want to break you up into sections according to your singing voice. I'm going to call you up groups to test your voices." Mrs. Garofalo began to call up some groups while Angel and Collins resumed their conversation.

"So..." Angel began.

"Um...Are you new? I don't think I've ever seen you before."

"Well, I just moved here last year, so I guess I could qualify as 'new'," Angel answered.

"Angel Schunard, Danielle Sparrow, Victoria Turner, Tom Collins," Mrs. Garofalo called.

"That's us!" Collins said. They got up and walked over to the piano. Their teacher made them sing a scale a bunch of times to figure out where to put them. She put Angel in the alto section because his voice was a little bit high and Collins in the baritone. Collins chose a seat right at the end of the baritone section, and Angel chose one right at the end of the alto section so they could sit next to each other and talk.

"So...When's your lunch period?" Collins asked.

"Ninth."

"So is mine! I'm sitting with a friend of mine. You can join us if you want," Collins said.

"Only if my other friend can come too," Angel said.

"No problem. The more the merrier!"

_Joanne _

_Third period, god, this day is going slow_. Joanne walked into her math class, and chose a seat close to the front. She liked to sit as close as possible, because she was quiet, and the teacher would be able to hear her better if she answered or asked a question.

A boy sat down next to her just as the bell rang. She noticed the boy looking at her. She ignored him, hoping he'd look away. She took out her notebook and pencil, getting ready for class. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the boy still looking at her.

"Prepared, aren't you?" he said.

"Yeah. I try to be," she said nervously.

"So...you separated from your friends too?" he asked.

"How do you know?"

"You're one of the only people who's not talking to anyone," he said.

"Well, now I am," she said.

The boy laughed. "My two best friends are together in almost everything together and I'm not with them at all."

_Why are you telling me this? _"Yeah, same with me."

"My name's Collins," the boy said. "Well, it's Tom Collins, but I prefer Collins."

"Joanne."

Collins looked over at her schedule. "Wow, I guess us smart kids are going to be seeing a lot of each other."

"Huh?" Joanne asked.

"I have all of the same main classes as you," Collins said, showing Joanne his schedule.

"Oh."

"Looks like we have lunch together too," Collins said, still reading her schedule.

"Cool." _Say something interesting Joanne!_ Joanne thought.

"If you want to sit with my friends and me at lunch today, you're more than welcome," Collins said.

"Oh, thanks. I'll think about that."

_Meanwhile..._

_Angel_

Angel looked at his cooking teacher. She was ancient. She had to be at least 65. Maybe older. Angel knew this was going to be an interesting year when she walked in and started yelling at some kid for talking. She hadn't even introduced herself yet, and she was already pissed off. Angel made a mental note not to cross Mrs. Bartels.

"This year, we will be cooking very interesting things, such as muffins, cookies..." Angel also noticed that she talked to the ceiling. She never looked at the class, just the ceiling. _Weird_, he thought. He looked up, thinking that there might be something interesting to see. Nothing. _Whatever_, he thought. She put the students in alphabetical order at the tables. Angel was sitting next to a boy named Roger, the boy who had gotten yelled at earlier in the class. Across from him was a blonde boy in glasses whose name he forgot, and some girl with blonde hair. He looked over at Mimi, who was talking to a girl with dark, curly hair and a strange outfit that included pink, knee-length boots. They were giggling and pointing at Roger. He wondered why. Mimi noticed Angel looking at her, so she waved. Angel waved back. "Who are you waving at?" Roger asked him.

"My friend Mimi over there." Angel pointed discreetly (so Mrs. Bartels wouldn't see him) toward where Mimi was sitting. Roger looked toward where he was pointing.

_Mimi_

"Oh, he's looking over here!" Mimi exclaimed, so she and Maureen hurriedly pretended to be talking to each other. Mimi had been sad about being unable to sit with Angel, but she got into talking with the girl at her table named Maureen. The first thing she had said to Mimi was, "See that blonde guy over there? Isn't he the hottest person you've ever seen?" Mimi had to agree.

Roger turned his back to the girls so they went back to staring and giggling. "Girls, what exactly is so funny over there?" Mrs. Bartels asked while staring at the ceiling above their table. Mimi just sat there, unable to think of anything to say. Maureen, however, piped up, "Oh, I was just thinking about something funny that someone told me and I _had_ to share it with Mimi before I forgot. It won't happen again."

"I know it won't," Mrs. Bartels said. "But, do you mind telling the class what you just _had_ to share with Mimi?"

"You know, I would, but the class wouldn't get it. It's an inside joke," Maureen said, clearly thinking fast.

"Really? This is your first warning girls. If I catch you talking during class again you will be separated and receive detention."

Mrs. Bartels continued talking to the ceiling, while Maureen mouthed, "What a bitch," to Mimi. Mimi nodded in agreement.

_Roger _

Roger sat in sixth period English, ready to kill himself. His teacher, Mrs. Strier, was a weird old lady who seemed like she should be teaching ninth grade, with the vocabulary she was using when she spoke to the class. He couldn't believe that he had to sit through another period of English in addition to this one that he'd only been in for five minutes. Nothing interesting had happened for the rest of the morning, since cooking when Maureen and some other girl had gotten in trouble for talking. It was nice to see someone else in trouble besides him for once.

Speaking of Maureen, he had quite a few classes with her. In addition to his Cooking and Social Studies, she was also in his Science and English classes. He found her extremely annoying. She always seemed to know where he was, and was always talking to him. She wasn't talking about anything interesting either. Most of it was just "Do you like Panic! At the Disco? Or Fall Out Boy? Or..." She just wouldn't go away! Luckily, her assigned seat wasn't near him in Science, Cooking or English, so he'd only have to put up with her in Social Studies. Unless they had any other classes together. He didn't think he'd be able to handle that.

The second period of English passed as slow as the first. Finally, Roger was able to have lunch. He was starving. He and Mark chose a relatively empty table and sat down.

"I wish Collins had lunch with us," Mark said.

"Or _anything_ with us! I haven't seen him since this morning when we got off the bus!"

"Me either."

"What about that chick Maureen? It seems like she's been following me all day! Every time I turn around she's there!" Roger exclaimed.

"So? At least she's giving you attention."

"Why do you care?"

"I like her. She's pretty." Mark looked down at his lunch.

"Yeah, pretty annoying." Mark burst out laughing.

"What?" Roger asked, annoyed.

"That was the worst joke you've ever made!"

"Shut up. Like you could do any better." Roger snapped.

This shut Mark up for a while.

_Collins_

Collins walked into his ninth period lunch and stood near the door. He was waiting for his friends to meet him so they could find a table together. He'd hoped they wouldn't go to the other cafeteria, though he'd specifically told them all to go to the south cafeteria.

Someone came up behind him, covered his eyes with their hands, and said, "Guess who?"

Collins rolled his eyes. "Maureen." He turned to face her. She pouted.

"How did you know it was me?"

"You're the only person who does that to me." He'd known Maureen for about a year. She was in his sixth grade class, and they sat at the same table for most of the year, so they go to know each other well. They had stayed close since then, and he was happy to know that he knew someone in his lunch.

"Oh," Maureen said. "Who are we waiting for?"

"Angel, Mimi-"

"You invited Mimi?"

"Yes."

"Yay!"

"Mimi, and Joanne," Collins continued.

"Joanne?" Maureen asked, confused.

"This girl in all of my classes. She seemed kind of lonely, so I invited her."

"Oh."

Angel and Mimi came over to them at this point.

"I just realized you were just in my gym class the period before this one and I didn't even wait for you," Maureen said to Mimi. Mimi pretended to look sad. "I'm sorry!" Maureen exclaimed, hugging her.

"I was kidding!" Mimi said laughing. "Can we sit now?"

"We're waiting for Joanne," Collins said.

"Who's Joanne?" asked Angel.

"A girl I invited." They waited for another few minutes.

"I'm hungry," Maureen complained.

"Then go find a table and we'll meet you there," Collins said. Mimi and Maureen left and went to the nearest empty table. Joanne came just as they sat down. "About time!" Collins said.

"Sorry. I got lost," Joanne said quietly. Collins led her over to the table and they sat down.

"Guys, this is Joanne. Joanne, this is Maureen, Mimi, and Angel," Collins said, pointing them out to Joanne as he said their names.

"Hi," chorused the three.

"Hi," Joanne said quietly. Everyone started opening up their lunch bags, chatting loudly about absolutely nothing.

_J__oanne_

_God they are so loud!_ Joanne thought. She opened up her lunch bag and took out her sandwich. Turkey on rye. Her favorite. She noticed that the other kids all seemed to be eating PB & J sandwiches, and Angel looked like he was eating some kind of chocolate spread. Her parents always bought her cold-cuts from the deli to eat at school because she wouldn't eat PB & J. She took out a piece of loose-leaf paper and her math textbook, and started to do some of the review problems.

"Whoa! We had math homework?" Collins asked when he noticed her working.

"No. I was just getting a head start on the review work," Joanne said.

_Maureen_

_Who does that? _Maureen thought. She never did any extra work for school. She looked at Collins and gave him a "where-did-you-find-her" look. Collins raised his eyebrows at her. She looked at a keychain on Joanne's pocketbook. "You like Wicked?" She asked excitedly.

Collins rolled his eyes. "Don't get her started with Wicked!"

Maureen slapped him. "Shut up!" she turned back to Joanne as Collins picked up his things and moved to the other side of the table. "So you like Wicked?"

"Yeah. My parents took me to see the original cast a few years ago."

_Lucky! _"You're so lucky! My parents wouldn't even take me! My friend's parents took us."

"Cool."

"So did you see Idina and Kristen or Idina and Jennifer Laura Thompson?"

"It was Idina and Kristen; I think. And Fiyero was played by Idina's husband, the black guy, whatever his name is."

"TAYE DIGGS? YOU ARE SO LUCKY! I HATE YOU!" Maureen exclaimed laughing. Joanne backed up from Maureen at this outburst, making Maureen laugh harder.

"Maureen, calm down," Collins said, reaching across the table to pat her arm.

"I'm okay, I'm okay," she said, taking deep breaths. Mimi laughed.

_Angel_

_God, Maureen is nuts. Absolutely nuts!_ Angel thought. But he liked Maureen anyway. She seemed like a fun person to hang around with. He and Maureen were talking about movies and such, and she was a little self-centered, interrupting Angel to put in her own opinion, but she seemed to care enough to listen to what he had to say. She loved the attention on her, though.

Joanne was the complete opposite. She was quiet, and seemed to prefer to give the attention rather to have much of it. Angel had tried many times to get her into the conversation, but failed. She didn't seem to be all that interested in the group anyway. She seemed much more interested in her math textbook. So Angel gave up on her for a while and began a discussion about family with Collins.

"Oh my gosh, do you know what song is stuck in my head right now?" Maureen interjected loudly.

"What song?" Mimi asked.

"But it's Better if You Do!" Collins rolled his eyes. Maureen suddenly broke into song, "Now I'm of consenting age to be forgetting you in a cabaret Somewhere downtown where a burlesque queen may even ask my name. As she sheds her skin on stage I'm seated and sweating to a dance song on the club's P.A..."

Collins pretended to bang his head on the table, making Joanne giggle. Then he really started banging his head when Mimi joined in singing. Joanne and Angel were cracking up by this point. Then Collins decided he was going to fight back, and started singing one of his favorite songs, and one of Maureen's least favorites, "Ridin'" by Chamillionare. Maureen and Mimi sang louder to drown him out, and Collins sang even louder to drown _them_ out. Finally the lunch period ended and one of the teachers came over to tell them to be quieter. _At least lunch wasn't boring,_ Angel thought as he walked to Social Studies with Mimi.

_Mark_

The first thing (or person, really) Mark noticed when he walked into Chorus, was Maureen. He was delighted. He thought that maybe he could talk to her since Roger was gone. He chose a seat next to her, and tried to get her attention, but she was busy trying to get the attention of their chorus teacher. Mark's fruitless attempts were cut short by their teacher talking about singing groups and such. He wasn't really listening until he heard his name being called. He walked up to the piano and discovered he was going to be expected to sing with the group to determine what group he was going to be put in. The person standing next to him had a lovely voice. He wondered who it was, but he didn't really want to turn his head incase he missed something his teacher was trying to tell him. After he'd been placed in the baritone section, he turned his head to see the person with the lovely voice next to him was none other that Maureen Johnson.

**Hope you liked it! Please review! No Flamers please!**


	4. Invitations, Notes and Fashion Tips

**Here's chapter four. I'm sorry it took so long, but school started last week and I've been busy with homework and such. I have study hall though, so I've been writing in there. This chapter is basically a setup for Collins' party (you'll understand when you read it) and I figured I'd make the next chapter the night of and the party. Sorry it's so long. **

**Disclamer: I don't own RENT, or anything else you recognize. Duh. I don't own the teachers either, really. They're all teachers I've had in middle school. (who's names I stupidly did not change) Enjoy.**

Chapter 4- Invitations, Passing Notes and Fashion Tips 

_Joanne_

"Collins, I already told you, I can't come over at four because I have to finish my homework and chores! And then have dinner!" Joanne was on the phone with Collins for the third time in the same day. He was planning a "party" on Friday, as a way to celebrate the end of their first month of middle school. She and Collins had gotten pretty close over the last few weeks, since they spent so much time together in school. She'd gotten pretty close with all of Collins' friends too: Maureen, Mimi, and Angel. She had yet to meet Roger and Mark, but she'd heard quite a bit about them.

"Can you come over at six then?" Collins asked.

"Fine. I don't know why you had to call me three times to ask the same question," Joanne said angrily.

"Well, I had planned for the party to be at three, but my mom said 'no' at the last minute. So I changed it and had to call you back. Then my phone cut out. So I had to call you back again."

"Oh. I have to go. See you tomorrow." Joanne hung up the phone and returned to her math homework. A few seconds later, the phone rang again. She checked the caller ID. It said "Collins, Thomas." She sighed and picked it up. "What, Collins?"

"What page is the math homework?"

"Fifty-three. Now stop calling me so I can do my own homework."

Collins laughed. "See you tomorrow." Just as Joanne picked up her pencil, the phone rang again. She groaned loudly in frustration. The caller ID said, "Johnson, Brian." _What could Maureen possible want?_ She thought.

"Hello?"

"Hey! You going to Collins' party thingy on Friday?"

"Yes," Joanne said.

"What are you wearing?" Maureen asked excitedly.

"I have no idea!" Joanne exclaimed. "It's Monday. The party is on Friday. I have all week."

"Should I wear a skirt or pants?" Maureen asked.

"It depends on the weather," Joanne said, walking into her kitchen for a cookie.

"Who cares about the weather? I just want to look cute!" Joanne rolled her eyes.

"Pants. They show off curves and don't make your thighs look fat," Joanne answered.

"Are you saying my thighs are fat?" Maureen exclaimed.

"No. I'm just saying that some skirts make people's thighs look fat. You're better off with pants that aren't too tight."

"Since when are you the fashion expert?" Maureen asked.

"I'm not," Joanne said, sighing. "I just happen to notice these things."

"Whatever," Maureen said. Yelling could be heard from Maureen's end of the line. "ALL RIGHT! ALL RIGHT I'M GETTING OFF! KEEP YOUR HAIR ON WOMAN!" Maureen screamed, causing Joanne to move the receiver a foot from her ear.

"I have to go," Maureen said.

"I noticed. See you tomorrow." Joanne went back to her work.

_Mimi_

Mimi was frantically running around her house, trying to find her left shoe. Her sister Consuela had stolen it the day before, and Mimi didn't know where she'd hidden it. _I'm going to be so late!_ Mimi thought. After a few more minutes of searching, Mimi still couldn't find her shoe. So she grabbed another pair that didn't match her outfit as well, called goodbye to her mother, and ran out the front door.

The bus was rounding the corner just as she walked out the door. Luckily, her bus stop was in front of Angel's driveway, so it was close. She got on the bus, took the last empty seat, and moved over for Angel to sit down.

"Rough morning?" Angel asked as Mimi took out a brush and started to brush her hair, still panting from running around her house.

"How'd you know?" Mimi asked.

"I think seeing you scramble out of your house like that is a good enough clue," Angel said smiling.

"Did I look that stupid?"

"No. No one would've seen you anyway."

"True. Do my shoes look okay?" Mimi asked, picking up her leg a bit.

"Fine, why?"

"I lost one of the shoes I was planning on wearing, so I had to wear these. They don't match as well," Mimi said sighing. The bus pulled up at the school a few minutes later, so Mimi and Angel got out and walked inside. "I actually know where I'm going now!" Mimi exclaimed excitedly.

"Only took us a month," Angel said, laughing.

Homeroom passed without much interesting happening, and soon Mimi was on her way to first period.

_Maureen_

Maureen was bored in homeroom. She never cared about announcements until that morning when she heard, "An informational meeting for this year's school musical, 'Grease' will be held this Thursday after school in the auditorium. All are welcome." Maureen was so excited she screamed. Not loudly, but loud enough for the people around her to stare at her in confusion. She smiled at them and wrote the information on her hand.

After homeroom, when she was walking to Social Studies, she spotted Mimi walking in the opposite direction. "MIMI!" she screamed. Mimi stopped dead and turned.

"Did you listen to the announcements this morning?" Maureen asked when she reached Mimi.

"No. I never do. Why?"

"The musical! It's 'Grease'! There's a meeting Thursday!" Maureen said in one breath.

"So?" Mimi asked.

"I'm so doing it!"

"Cool. I'm gonna be late. See you in Cooking." Mimi left. Maureen watched her go, a little disappointed that she didn't seem as excited as Maureen had expected her to be.

_Mark_

Mark sat in Social Studies, staring into space and not taking in a word his teacher said. He felt a tap on his back, so he turned around. "Roger told me to give this to you," the girl behind him whispered, holding out a piece of paper. Mark took it and opened it. On the paper there was a poorly drawn picture of Roger (Mark was able to find that out because Roger was labeled) holding a stick and holding it toward a fat woman who had a speech bubble near her mouth with the words, "Blah, blah, blah," written in it. Underneath it said, "Me hitting Laske with a bat. Y is she so boring?" Mark was amused. He picked up his pen and wrote back, "Ha Ha Ha. Lmao. Lucky U don't take art or u'd fail. I'm surprised ur not writing a song," and handed it to the girl behind him to give to Roger.

A few minutes later, the girl handed the note back to him. "Shut up. And I need insparation 2 rite music," it said. Mark wrote back, "U spelled 'inspiration' wrong." The next time Mark got the note back, it said, "Don't rub in tht I cant spell." He was about to write back when...

"Mark, what is that in your hand?" Mrs. Laske asked suddenly. Mark tried hiding it under his binder. "N...Nothing," he stuttered. Mrs. Laske came over to him and took it from him. "Passing notes? That is unacceptable. See me after class. You too, Roger." She put the note on her desk and continued with the lesson as if nothing had happened. Mark sat for the rest of the period, humiliated, and petrified at what was going to happen to him. Plus, he'd gotten Roger in trouble.

After class, he and Roger approached the teacher's desk. "Well, passing notes is not an incredibly serious thing, but it shows lack of respect for me. Mark, this is your first time getting into trouble in my class, so I will only call home and let them know. Roger, you've been in trouble countless times in my class. I think that I will just call home, though. The next time I catch you passing notes you'll get detention. You can go."

An upset Mark and fuming Roger left their class side by side, not speaking. Only when they were a safe distance from the classroom did Roger say, "What a bitch! I can't stand that woman! Now I'm not going to be able to go to Collins' party Friday! This sucks! Why did you have to be so obvious? " Mark had backed a few feet away from Roger. "Is your outburst over?" Mark asked. Roger didn't answer and walked a few feet in front of Mark to his next class. Mark sighed and went to the opposite direction, feeling guilty.

_Roger_

_I should have known not to start passing notes with Mark, _Roger thought_. He has no idea how to do it right. I'm surprised the teacher didn't catch him earlier. _He couldn't believe a silly little thing like that earned him a phone call home. His mother hated to get phone calls about him if he was misbehaving. She preferred the phone calls about how well he was doing. Those didn't come often. He remembered getting a call from his sixth grade teacher once, and his mother assumed that it was something bad before she even picked it up. She'd made him sit in the kitchen with her when she picked up the phone, and his teacher ended up telling his mother that he'd gotten a 100 on his latest test. His mother was so proud of him she took him out for ice cream. That was his last good call from a teacher, and that was in February of the previous school year.

Roger sat in chorus depressed and angry, so it passed by pretty quickly. He walked to Cooking, and sat down in his seat. By now he had cooled off, and he'd gotten over the fact that he'd be getting another phone call home.

Mark walked in, looking sad. Roger knew it probably has something to do with Social Studies and his outburst, so he decided to talk to him about it before class started.

"Mark, look. I didn't mean to go nuts on you like that before. I was just angry," Roger said.

"I know. I just feel guilty. I'd hate for you to miss Collins' party because of me," Mark said, not meeting Roger's eyes.

"Nah, it wouldn't be your fault entirely. I started it."

Mark smiled. "Yeah, you did."

Roger was about to say something else, but Mrs. Bartels walked in at that point. Roger shut his mouth before he got into trouble for the second time that day.

"Today we are finally going to begin cooking. I am going to break you into groups of five. Group one is..." Roger zoned out. He started doodling on his binder until he heard, "Group two, Roger Davis, Mark Cohen..." -Mark and Roger exchanged high-fives- "Angel Dummot Schunard, Mimi Marquez, and Maureen Johnson." Roger's happiness evaporated when he heard Maureen's name. She just had to be in his cooking group_. This must be god's way of punishing me for Social Studies_, he thought.

After Mrs. Bartels put the rest of the class into their groups, she sent them to their assigned kitchens to get to work. Roger pulled himself up on the counter and sat down. He looked at the rest of the group. "Well, what are we doing?" he asked them.

"We're not sitting on the counters, Mr. Davis, that's for sure," Mrs. Bartels said as she passed. Roger rolled his eyes and got off of the counter.

"It says to gather the ingredients first," Mimi said, looking up from her recipe sheet. Roger had never really gotten a good look at Mimi before. She was pretty. Really pretty. Her brown eyes where so big an innocent-looking, yet they seemed to hide so much. Roger found himself staring at her.

"Roger? Hello? Roger!" Mark's voice brought Roger back to earth after what felt like hours. He blinked a few times. "What?" he asked, as if nothing had happened.

"You were staring. We wanted to know if you wanted to crack the eggs."

"Whatever." Roger went over to the egg carton and took out a few eggs. Everyone else started to do their jobs as well. Roger heard Maureen's annoying voice.

"So, Angel, are you going to Collins' party on Friday?"

"Yeah!" Angel answered.

"Me too!"

"WHAT?" Roger exclaimed. Collins had said that he'd invited other people, though he'd neglected to mention one of those "other people" had been Maureen!

"What?" Maureen asked Roger, puzzled.

Roger tried to regain his composure. "You know Collins?" he asked.

"Yeah. We met in sixth grade. We're pretty close."

_Not as close as Mark and I are with him_, Roger thought. "Well, I'm going too."

_Mimi _

_Roger looks so much cuter up close!_ Mimi thought. She was really excited about Collins' party now. She'd been excited before, but knowing that Roger was going made her even more excited.

After class, she cornered Maureen.

"What am I going to wear?" she asked.

"Something cute. I know! Me and Joanne will come over and help you pick something out!" She exclaimed excitedly. "And then we can go to her house and help her too! She really needs it!"

_Joanne_

"Maureen, I don't see why I had to come, I don't know a thing about fashion!" Joanne whined as they sat in Maureen's mother's car on the way to Mimi's house that afternoon.

"Stop whining. We'll have fun. And we're picking out an outfit for you too."

Maureen's mother dropped them off at Mimi's house, and promised to pick them up and bring them to Joanne's at seven. Mimi's mother was going to give them some pizza for dinner so Joanne's mother didn't have to feed them at seven o' clock at night.

"Hey guys," Mimi said when they walked in. "My sisters are all here, unfortunately, so if they bother us I'll just call my mom and she'll get rid of them."

"Okay," Maureen and Joanne said at the same time. Mimi directed Maureen over to her closet. Joanne flopped onto Mimi's bed.

After five minutes of silence except for the sound of clothes being shifted in Mimi's closet, Joanne spoke.

"Maureen?"

"What?"

"Why are we getting dressed up for this party if it's not formal?"

"We're not getting dressed up. We're just looking nice," Maureen said, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"Oh. Whatever."

"Maureen? Can I look yet?" This came from Mimi, who was sitting on the floor with her eyes covered. Maureen wanted the outfit she picked out to be a surprise.

"Almost."

Another five minutes passed in silence.

"Why are we all so quiet?" Joanne asked. She crossed the room to Mimi's CD player. She took out a CD from the pile next to it and put it on.

_Summer lovin', had me a blast_

_Summer lovin', happened so fast_

_Met a girl crazy for me_

_Met a boy cute as can be..._

"I love this song!" Maureen exclaimed, jumping up and down.

"Maureen, stop being so excited and finish picking out my outfit!" Mimi said, annoyed.

"All done!" Mimi opened her eyes and turned to see what outfit Maureen had picked for her. A pink skirt with rhinestones along the side, a white shirt that showed off a little skin, a pink tank-top, (to go under the shirt) and white wedge flip-flops sat on Mimi's bed, next to Joanne. "Oh my gosh! I was thinking of wearing this too!" Maureen was beaming, and Joanne was just sitting there. Mimi put on the outfit to model it, and Joanne thought she looked pretty good. Maureen seemed to think that Mimi looked, "AMAZING! YOU LOOK ABSOLUTELY AMAZING!" Maureen was jumping up and down and hugging Mimi as she screamed.

"Maureen, would you relax?" Joanne said, pulling Maureen off of Mimi.

Maureen stuck her tongue out at Joanne and started to put Mimi's hair in a mini ponytail. Then she ran over to Mimi's jewelry box and started to pick out various necklaces and bracelets. Joanne sighed. This was going to be a very long night.

_Mark _

Mark was at his computer. Well, his family's computer. This was one of those rare times his sister Cindy wasn't on it. His teacher hadn't called yet, so he figured he'd take advantage of the computer while he still could.

The phone rang. Mark knew who it was. His parents were both downstairs where there was no telephone, so he knew they probably didn't hear it. Mark didn't pick it up. He signed onto AIM instead. Roger IMed him.

**ElectricGuitar:** Hey!

**MDCohen94: hey. Laske call yet? **

**ElectricGuitar: **yea...

**MDCohen94: ur not in trouble?**

**ElectricGuitar: **well...

**MDCohen94: wut did u do?**

**ElectricGuitar: **how do u no I did somethin?

**MDCohen94: I just no. spill it.**

**ElectricGuitar: **my parents r out, so when she called I didn't pick up. She left a message and I deleted it.

**MDCohen94: Roger!**

**ElectricGuitar: **heh heh heh.

**MDCohen94: ur nuts.**

**ElectricGuitar: **y thank u.

Mark's mother came running up the stairs at this point. "Why didn't you answer the phone?" she asked him.

"I didn't notice it was ringing," Mark said lamely. The phone rang again. Mark winced as his mother picked it up.

**MDCohen94: crap! My mom picked up the phone!**

**ElectricGuitar: **ha ha.

**MDCohen94: some help u r.**

**ElectricGuitar: **...

"Mark, could you come in here for a minute please?" Mark walked into the kitchen. "Your teacher called." Mark didn't say anything. "She told me you were passing notes. Is that true?"

_I could lie, _Mark thought desperately._ I could lie and tell her that Mrs. Laske is an evil hag and a liar. But Mom would never believe that._

"Yes."

"Mark, you know that's rude and disrespectful toward your teacher?"

"Yes."

"Don't do it again." Mrs. Cohen left the room.

_That's it?_ Mark thought. _Cool._ He went back to the computer.

**MDCohen94: im not in trouble!**

**ElectricGuitar: **seriously?

**MDCohen94: yup. **

**ElectricGuitar: **sweet!

_Joanne_

It was seven-thirty. Maureen and Joanne were at Joanne's house, picking out an outfit for her.

"Joanne, what's up with this sweater?" Maureen asked, holding up a pink and green striped sweater.

"My aunt bought me that one too." Maureen had spent the last fifteen minutes making fun of clothes in Joanne's closet, most of them given to her by her aunt, who had no idea what she liked.

"In the words of Galinda, 'pink goes great with green!'" Maureen said. Joanne laughed. She went over to her CD player and put on her Wicked CD.

_Elphie, now that we're friends, I've decided to make you my new project._

_Oh you really don't have to do that._

_I know, that's what makes me so nice! _

Maureen squealed. She pushed Joanne into a chair and began to sing along with the CD, pretending that she was Galinda and Joanne was Elphaba. _How flattering_, Joanne thought. Maureen really did have a good voice.

After the song ended, Maureen held up an outfit for Joanne. In her hands was a pair of black pants and a shirt that was a bunch of different shades of purple beautifully blended together with wide sleeves around the wrist. She loved it.

"I forgot that I had that shirt. What about shoes?" Joanne asked. Maureen went down on her hands and knees and searched the bottom of Joanne's closet. A few minutes later she emerged with a pair of black boots.

"Did you mess up my closet?" Joanne asked, pushing Maureen aside. She went down on all fours and straightened the shoes that Maureen had knocked down.

"Sheesh. Neat much?" Maureen asked. Joanne said nothing. Maureen didn't understand.

_Maureen_

Maureen was sitting in Cooking, being quiet for once. She was waiting for Mimi to show up, because she had an important question to ask her. Mrs. Bartels came in, signaling the beginning of class. Maureen was confused. Mimi was never late. Mrs. Bartels handed them a worksheet to do. Maureen couldn't concentrate. She looked over at Angel, who was looking at her. "Where's Mimi?" she mouthed to him. He shrugged. _Some help he was_, Maureen thought. A few minutes later Mimi walked in with a late pass. She sat down in her seat, next to Maureen.

"Where were you?" Maureen asked her.

"I overslept and my mom had to drive my two sisters to school before me," Mimi answered.

"I have to ask you an important question," Maureen said.

"Okay, shoot," Mimi said.

Maureen was about to talk, but was cut off by Mrs. Bartels telling her to be quiet. She rolled her eyes. "Later," she mouthed to Mimi.

After class, she met Mimi in the hall.

"What was your question?" Mimi asked her.

"Would you come to the meeting and auditions for the play with me?"

"But I don't like acting or singing," Mimi said.

"You don't have to try out. Just come with me! Please?" Maureen begged.

"Why?" Mimi asked.

"It's just...just that I've never gone to an audition alone before. I was always with Nicole." She looked down at her shoes.

Mimi smiled. "Then of course I'll come with you. I'm here for you."

Maureen smiled too. "Thanks."

**Please Review! No Flamers!**

**If anyone knows how kids/teens perform Grease in a play (if you've seen it or have been in it) please let me know what's different from the movie and stuff. I've never seen one or performed in one, so I don't want to sound stupid. You get what I mean. I'll take any suggestions for plot ideas as well. Just PM me or put it in your review. Thanks!**


	5. The Party

**OMG I AM SOOO SORRY IT TOOK SO LONG! I have been SO busy and I kpet getting distracted. It's up now! This chapter came out a little...wierd. I don't like it very much, but tell me what you think!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Rent. duh. Or anything else you recognize.**

Chapter 5- The Party

_Angel_

Angel was excited. He was excited for two reasons. One: It was Friday and Two: It was the day of Collin's party. Angel had been anticipating it since he'd gotten the call on Monday. Collins had promised that it was going to be the best party they'd ever been to. There was going to be dancing, music, food, games...Angel couldn't wait. He went onto the bus with Mimi, chattering excitedly the whole time.

"Would you calm down?" Mimi shrieked at him. "How are you so hyper at seven-thirty in the morning? I'm not even awake yet!"

"I don't know. I guess I'm just naturally hyper!" Angel grinned. He bopped up and down in his seat.

"What are you? Some kind of Mexican jumping bean?" Mimi didn't seem to be in the best mood. Though, she never really was in the morning.

"Aren't you excited?" Angel asked. "The party's tonight!"

"Of course I'm excited! I'm just not a bouncing off the walls at seven-thirty in the morning!" she snapped. Angel fell silent. He decided it would be better for him to speak to her in Cooking, when she wasn't as crabby.

Sure enough, when he got to Cooking, Mimi was as hyper and excited as she usually was.

They were making muffins. But not your typical muffins. They had oatmeal or something in them. Angel wasn't really paying attention.

"Excited for tonight?" Angel asked Maureen when they began working.

"Yeah!" she exclaimed, giving him a high-five.

"How did your little meeting thingy go?" Angel asked, referring to the meeting about the school play.

"It was pretty boring. They just explained what she show was about and audition information and stuff."

"Cool," Angel said while cracking eggs. "When are auditions?"

"Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. I signed up for Monday. And callbacks are Thursday I think."

"What are you singing?"

"I have no idea. There are so many choices! I can't pick! I'm thinking of doing something from Wicked."

"Big surprise," Mimi chimed in.

"Shut up!" Maureen exclaimed, slapping Mimi playfully on the shoulder.

"Which songs were you..." Angel was interrupted by Maureen, as usual.

"I could sing Grease, actually. But that might seem too desperate. I can do that song I like about dresses or whatever from that Egyptian musical thingy, or Hairspray! I like Hairspray!" Maureen paused for breath. Angel just stared.

"Breathe, woman!" Mimi said.

"What does it look like I'm doing?" Maureen asked.

"Babbling," Mimi answered. Maureen laughed.

_Joanne_

Joanne was nervous. She was sitting in Math, and she wasn't listening to a word her teacher was saying. She was too busy worrying about what everyone at the party was going to think of her outfit. She never cared about something like that before. It was weird. Maureen and Mimi were coming over after school to help each other with their hair and clothes before the party at four. Well, more like Maureen and Mimi would do each other's hair with Joanne watching. Joanne's mother had given her the night off from her chores, which meant that she could go to the party at four like everyone else.

But she'd never cared about her outfit this much before. She found it peculiar. When she's tried it on for Maureen, she said she looked incredible. But Joanne was still worried.

Collins tapped her on the shoulder. She turned around to face him.

"What?" she asked quietly.

"Hi," Collins said grinning.

"Hi." Collins just looked at her, still grinning. "Is that it?" she asked him.

"Yes." Joanne shook her head. She turned back to her notes and began to copy down what her teacher had just written. Collins tapped her again.

"What now?"

"Hi," Collins said again. Joanne rolled her eyes and went back to her notes. When Collins tapped her again she turned around so fast that she knocked her binder onto the floor.

"What!" she exclaimed.

"Hello!" he said cheerfully, waving.

"I am going to kill you," Joanne said before turning around. She heard Collins laughing behind her.

After class, Joanne and Collins walked to their next class together, as they always did.

"What was that all about?" Joanne asked him.

Collins grinned. "I was bored. And I was going to ask you a question, but I kept getting distracted by the 'abnormally large pimple' on your chin," he joked.

"Shut up!" Joanne said, slapping him playfully on the arm. The night before, Joanne had called Collins to complain about an "abnormally large pimple" on her chin that had appeared out of nowhere when she got home. Collins wouldn't have been her first choice to complain to, but Mimi was at dance class and Maureen wasn't allowed on the phone. "Is it that noticeable?" she asked, paranoid.

"Would you relax?" Collins said sighing. "Isn't there some kind of girly make-up you can put on it so it's less noticeable?"

"I guess I can borrow some from my mom later," Joanne said as they walked into their English classroom. She pulled out her little pocket mirror and studied her chin. "It's so huge! NO ONE has a pimple that size!" she exclaimed, them froze. "Oh my gosh. I'm turning into Maureen!" She quickly put the mirror away.

Collins cracked up. "She'll be so proud." Joanne laughed. "Put Windex on your pimple!" Collins said out of the blue.

"What? Why would I do that?" Joanne asked, totally confused.

"Haven't you ever seen My Big Fat Greek Wedding?" Collins asked.

"No, I was never allowed."

"Then we are _definitely_ watching that tonight!" Collins exclaimed.

"But I just told you I'm not allowed!" Joanne said.

"Well, we just won't tell your mother then, will we?" Collins said, smiling mischievously.

Joanne smiled weakly. She didn't really like the idea of lying to her mother. She always wanted to know every single detail about what Joanne did at her friend's house. But one white lie wasn't going to hurt anyone.

_Mark_

Mark was bored. It was his lunch period, but Roger wasn't there yet. They'd separated after English class to go to their lockers, but Roger never came to lunch. _He's probably at the dean's office again_, Mark thought. Since Roger had lunch with him, he didn't know anyone else at his table. So he ate alone.

Being Roger's friend had its benefits. Roger was popular with the girls for as long as Mark could remember. They were always coming up to Roger and flirting with him. Mark, of course, was too shy to talk to them or even look them in the eye, but people saw him talking to the "popular" girls, and thought he was cool.

"Where's Roger?" a voice interrupted Mark's thoughts. He looked up. A girl wearing way too much eye shadow was looking at him expectantly. Mark felt his face turn red. "Um...He's...um...I don't...know..." Mark mumbled. The girl walked away, leaving Mark alone again. _Real smooth_, he thought.

Roger took Mark shopping too. He was sick of seeing him in slacks and collared shirts. He took Mark to the mall and bought (well, Roger's mother paid) him jeans and t-shirts. Of course, Mrs. Cohen flipped out, but Mrs. Davis had a talk with her and Mark was allowed to keep the clothes. He'd gotten quite a few compliments as well. Even Maureen noticed! "Nice jeans, Mark," she'd said.

Maureen...Mark was filled with pleasure just thinking about her. Thinking about her curly brown hair, that was always a mess. Though Mark liked it that way. Thinking about her sparkling green eyes...Mark melted every time he looked into them. And her hands...

"Mark? Hello? MARK?" Mark jumped. Roger was talking to him. "Thinking about Maureen again?" he asked. Mark looked down. "No," he said, embarrassed. Roger rolled his eyes and opened his lunch bag.

"Where were you?" Mark asked eager to change the subject.

"Dean's office." _I knew it_, thought Mark.

"Why?"

"I pushed some kid and the assistant principal dude saw me. The kid was in my way! They're SO obsessed with us getting to class on time, but the halls are so full that there's no way you can get anywhere unless you push some people! But I swear, that dude needs a life..." Mark laughed and prepared himself for a long rant about the "assistant principal dude."

_Joanne_

"Where is your mom, Jo?" Maureen asked. Joanne was standing outside the school with Maureen and Mimi, waiting for her mother to come and pick them up. She had a doctor's appointment, so she figured that she'd swing by and pick up the girls on her way home. But she was five minutes late. Maureen was fretting that she wouldn't have enough time to get ready.

"Maybe there's traffic," Joanne said, hoping her mother was okay. A few minutes later Joanne's mother pulled up at the curb. The girls all squeezed in the back seat.

"Hi girls," Mrs. Jefferson said.

"Hi," the girls said at the same time.

"How was your Social Studies test, Joanne?" Mrs. Jefferson asked.

Joanne realized she was sitting on her seat belt and hurried to put on. "Good, but I failed."

Mrs. Jefferson gasped. "What do you mean, you failed? Didn't you study?"

"Yes. But if you think you did well then you failed. But if you think you failed, you don't," Joanne explained.

"I don't get it," Mrs. Jefferson said.

"You wouldn't."

For the rest of the ride home, the girls sat in the back seat, talking about music and movies and such. When they got home, Maureen went tearing into the house and into the bathroom to fix her hair. Joanne and Mimi rolled their eyes.

_Mimi_

_God, Joanne's house is neat. And huge! And clean. And I wonder where she gets it from, _Mimi thought when she walked into Joanne's house. Everything was in order, and the floors and walls were spotless. Mimi was used to juice stains and handprints everywhere. Though, with four messy and energetic girls in the same house it was hard to keep it clean for very long.

Mimi followed Joanne into her bedroom. It was impeccably neat. Her bed was made perfectly and there was not a single thing out of place. Mimi walked over to the bookcase. All of the books were in alphabetical order! _Is this healthy?_ Mimi thought.

"What are you staring at?" Joanne asked.

"Nothing."

"Seriously, what are you staring at?"

"I'm just not used to being in a house this clean," Mimi said, dropping her books on the floor next to Joanne's bed. Joanne ran over, picked them up, and put them on top of a box in the corner of the room, on top of her own books. She noticed Mimi staring at her.

"Sorry. I just can't stand things on the floor that don't belong there." Joanne went into her closet to get out her outfit. _No, definitely not healthy_, Mimi thought.

After a few minutes, Mimi and Joanne were both dressed and banging on the bathroom door, where Maureen was.

"KEEP YOUR HAIR ON! GOSH!" Maureen screamed. Joanne's mother came down the hallway.

"Why are you all screaming?" she asked them.

"Maureen won't some out of the bathroom," Mimi answered.

"Well, she'd better hurry up because we have to leave for the party in ten minutes." Mrs. Jefferson walked away.

Just them Maureen came out of the bathroom. She was wearing a long green skirt, a white tank-top with sequins along the neckline, and a denim jacket. Her hair actually looked nice.

"What took so long?" Mimi asked as she went into the bathroom to brush her hair and put on lip gloss. Joanne followed her.

"YOU try getting a brush to get through this mane of hair!" Maureen exclaimed, pointing towards her head. She walked into Joanne's room.

"Joanne, aren't you going to wear any make-up?" Mimi asked as Joanne brushed her teeth.

"No, why?"

"Yes you are. Come here." Mimi opened up her pocketbook and took out a tube of lip gloss and some eye shadow. Joanne eyed it apprehensively. Mimi handed her the lip gloss. "Here. Put it on." Joanne did so. Maureen walked into the bathroom at this point. "Joanne! You're wearing make-up! Ooh la la!" Joanne ignored her.

"She's only wearing it because I forced her to," Mimi clarified.

Maureen started putting on her own lip gloss. "Collins will notice you for sure!" she said. Joanne froze in the act of putting on Mimi's eye shadow. "Excuse me?" she asked.

"Come on, I know you like him," Maureen said. Joanne put down the eye shadow brush and looked at her. "What?"

"He's all you talk about!"

"Because he's my friend!"

"Sure. That's just what you _want_ me to think."

"I'm serious!"

"Come on, you're blushing!" Maureen exclaimed, laughing. Joanne handed Mimi her make-up.

"FOR THE LAST TIME, I DO NOT LIKE COLLINS!" She said and stormed out of the bathroom. Maureen turned to Mimi. "Don't you think she likes him?" she asked.

"Well..." Mimi put away her make-up and closed her pocketbook.

"Well what?" Maureen asked, putting her hands on her hips.

"I think she's telling the truth," Mimi said.

Maureen didn't look convinced. "I still think she likes him."

_Collins_

Collins was excited. He and Angel were setting up for the party. Everything seemed to be in order. The chips and soda were on the table, the chairs were set up, and the basement was clean. Collins decided that he wanted to have to party in his basement, so he and his guests would get their privacy.

"Hey, Collins?" Angel asked.

"What?" Collins asked as he checked the clock. 3:55.

"Why is this out?" Angel held up a DVD of My Big Fat Greek Wedding.

"Oh. Joanne told me she'd never seen it so I figured we could watch it if we had time."

Angel looked appalled. "Who hasn't seen this? Wow." Collins laughed. He heard footsteps on the stairs. He looked up to see Roger and Mark. The party had begun.

**(No one's POV. I figured it would be easier to follow than switching POV's every few lines) **

"Hey guys!" Collins said when Mark and Roger came down the stairs.

"Hey Collins!" Mark said excitedly.

"We brought booze!" Roger shouted. Angel choked on the potato chip he was eating. Roger walked over and thumped him on the back a few times. "I was joking! God! It's root beer!" Roger handed the root beer to Collins. "Ooh! Tostitio's!" Roger began stuffing his face with tortilla chips and salsa.

Collins laughed. "You're not even here five minutes and you're already eating." Roger flipped him off, making Angel choke again. "Obscene finger gestures from such a pristine girl," Collins said, quoting one of him and Roger's favorite movies, which Mark wasn't allowed to see.

"I'm not that pristine," Roger continued the quote in a girly voice.

Just then, Maureen, Mimi, and Joanne come down the stairs. Roger burst out laughing. Collins looked at him quizzically, but all her could do was point at Maureen.

"What?" Maureen asked.

"You...you look like a lettuce leaf!" Roger said, collapsing in a fit of laughter again. Maureen turned bright red. Mimi walked over and faced Roger. "That was really mean. Take it back."

Roger looked at her, surprised. "What?"

"You heard me."

Roger rolled his eyes. "Fine. I'll humor you." He turned to Maureen. "I'm sorry for calling you a lettuce leaf."

"Whatever," Maureen said. Mimi and Joanne looked at each other. They both knew that Maureen was only pretending not to care; she was really hurt.

"So, what are we doing?" Angel asked.

"Glad you asked," Collins said. He took a piece of paper out of his pocket and cleared his throat. "4-4:15, introductions and snacking. 4:15-5, music and dancing." Roger snorted. "5-5:30, Karaoke." Maureen squealed. "5:30-6:15, dinner. 6:15-7:45, Movie, My Big Fat Greek Wedding. 7:45-9, various party games. 9:00 departure." He looked up. Everyone was staring at him blankly. "Oh yeah, thank you to Joanne for the nice list," Collins added. Roger looked confused. Collins rolled his eyes and pointed to Joanne, who hadn't moved since she arrived. Joanne waved nervously. Angel started clapping. "Yay, Joanne!" he said. Maureen, Mimi, and Collins joined in. Even Mark clapped a few times. Roger just sat there.

Collins taped the schedule to the wall. "Snack time!" he said. Everyone crowded around the snack table. Joanne and Mark stayed back, feeling shy and nervous.

After everyone had gotten their snacks, and Roger stopped hogging all of the Tostito's, they sat down and had little side conversations before the next "activity."

"So, you still like Maureen even though she looks like a giant lettuce leaf?" Roger asked Mark.

Mark swallowed his chip. "Yes I do," he answered. "And I like her outfit. It's unique."

Roger snorted. "I wouldn't be surprised if she showed up in school dressed like a pumpkin on Monday."

Maureen was sitting with Joanne. "He hates me!" she complained.

Joanne sighed. "He doesn't hate you, just your outfit."

"I knew I should have worn the brown one!" Maureen mumbled. Joanne didn't say anything, but she knew what Roger would've said if she'd come dressed in a brown skirt.

Meanwhile, Mimi, Angel and Collins were sitting on the couch.

"Collins, do you think Joanne likes you?" Mimi asked.

Collins looked surprised. "What do you mean?"

"Maureen thinks she does because she always talks about you. But Joanne says she doesn't."

Collins didn't say anything. Angel frowned. "But just because you talk about someone a lot doesn't mean you like them, right?"

"That's what I was thinking," Mimi said. "But...usually it does."

Angel didn't respond. He was a little worried. Thinking about it, Collins was usually the person he talked about the most. And who he thought about the most. But not in that way, he just thought about him. That wasn't weird, was it? He hoped not.

"Time for dancing!" Collins shouted out of the blue. He went over to the stereo and put in a CD of dance songs. The Macarena came on first. Maureen jumped up off of her chair and stood in the part of Collins' basement without any furniture. Mimi, Collins, and Angel followed her. They began to dance the Macarena in perfect harmony, as if they'd practiced before the party. Roger looked at Mark, trying not to laugh.

Maureen turned around and noticed that Joanne was still sitting off to the side. "Joanne! Come _on_!" Joanne shook her head. Maureen grabbed Joanne's arm and pulled. Joanne tried to resist, but Maureen had help from Mimi. Joanne ended up on the floor. She rolled her eyes, got up, and joined them. Maureen beamed.

After the Macarena they danced the Cotton-Eyed Joe, the Electric Slide (Maureen was the only one who knew that one, and tried unsuccessfully to teach the others) and finally, the Cha-Cha Slide. Collins was frustrated with Roger and Mark just sitting there, so he made them join in. Roger had no idea how to do it even though the song was telling him what to do.

"Can we stop dancing now?" Roger asked when the song ended. Collins nodded and went over to check his schedule. "Now we're doing karaoke!"

"YES!" Maureen exclaimed, jumping up and down. Collins attached his karaoke machine to his television and handed Maureen the microphone. Maureen began to rifle through the pile of CD's next to it.

"And everyone has to sing," Collins clarified. Roger groaned loudly. "You too, Roger." Roger folded his arms stubbornly, making everyone laugh.

"I have a song everyone!" Maureen exclaimed.

"Oh, this should be spectacular," Roger said sarcastically. Maureen ignored him and put in the CD. The beginning music of "Popular" from Wicked came on. Collins groaned. Maureen shot him a death glare and grabbed Joanne to be Elphaba.

_La, la, la, la, you'll be popular_

_Just not quite as popular as me! _

Maureen ended her song with an incredibly high note that made Roger cover his ears. She stuck her tongue out at him.

"Now, Maureen, you get to pick the next person to sing," Collins said.

Maureen smiled mischievously. "Roger," she said, handing him the microphone.

He rolled his eyes. "I should have seen that coming." He picked a CD from the top of the pile. "Collins, this is so girly!" he said as he read the back of the CD. He put the CD into the machine and the beginning of Maroon5's "Harder to Breathe" came on. The song was faster than he'd expected it to be, and it was obvious he didn't know the tempo or anything of the sort.

After Roger, Mark sang "Boulevard of Broken Dreams" by Green Day because Roger told him to. He sang the entire song off-key.

Mark chose Collins to sing next, and he picked, "I'm a Believer" by Smash Mouth. Everyone could tell that the only karaoke song Collins ever sang was "I'm a Believer" because he knew the words the background singers sang and everything.

Angel went next, and he decided to sing, "Killer Queen" by Queen since he was able to sing higher notes. He was a little off-key, and messed up the words.

Mimi chose to sing, "Walk Away" by Kelly Clarkson since it was her "number one favorite song at the moment."

Finally, Joanne sang "Look at Me, I'm Sandra Dee" because it was short and she didn't have to sing very much. Maureen told her she wasn't as bad a singer as she believed she was, but Joanne wouldn't listen.

Collins' mother had their pizza delivered to the house, (something very fascinating to Joanne, who rarely ever ate out or had anything delivered).

Dinner passed without much eventful happening, except Mark, being his clumsy self, spilled his entire cup of coffee all over Maureen's plate. Blushing furiously, he tried to clean up his mess, but only succeeded in making it worse. Maureen helped him, thinking that his clumsiness was adorable.

After dinner, they all sat on the couch to watch the movie.

"Collins, why are we watching this?" Roger complained.

"Joanne hasn't seen it. Why? Don't you like it?"

"Duh. Who doesn't?" Roger said. "I've just seen it about a billion times!"

"Well, make it a billion and one then," Mimi chimed in. "And shut up, I can't hear it."

Roger looked at her, surprised. But he stayed quiet.

After the movie, Joanne was in shock. "Now I know why my parents didn't let me watch that movie!" she said.

"It wasn't _that_ inappropriate," Roger said. "What, do you watch 'G' rated movies only or something?"

Joanne looked down at her shoes and didn't answer.

"Wow, Roger! What a big word for you!" Maureen said out of nowhere.

"What word?"

"'Inappropriate.' I didn't know you knew such a word!" Maureen was getting angry now. Roger had done nothing but complain and make fun of people the entire party. And Maureen didn't like it, since he'd just made fun of one of her good friends. She reached out and pushed him against the wall, hard.

"What the hell was that for?" Roger spat, furious.

Maureen folded her arms and looked him in the eyes. It was then that she realized that she only liked Roger all of these years because he was so good-looking. He was subdued in class, getting in trouble and such, but normally he wasn't heard from very much. She'd met the real Roger that night, and she didn't like him. "You know, Roger, you're an asshole."

Roger was so enraged that he couldn't even open his mouth to speak. He lunged at Maureen, but Angel ran between them. "People! Stop it! Can't we just be mature and have fun?" he said. Roger shot him a death glare.

"Let's play Twister!" Mimi blurted out, after rummaging through the pile of games Collins had in his basement. Collins helped her spread out the mat on the floor.

"Who wants to be the spinner?" Collins asked. Joanne's had shot up before anyone else could register what Collins said. Joanne was not about to show everyone her inflexibility and the fact that she was very uncoordinated.

"We'll do it in teams. Roger, Mark, and I versus Maureen, Mimi, and Angel." Collins decided that Maureen and Roger should not be on the same team. "One person from each team goes at a time, and whoever stays up the longest wins. We'll add up all of the points at the end. Deal?"

Everyone agreed. Mimi volunteered to go first for her team and Collins for his. Joanne spun the spinner. "Right hand red," she said. Mimi and Collins obeyed her. "Left foot blue." "Left hand green." Collins fell. Roger was very angry about this. "Dude! That sucked!" Collins ignored him. Roger walked onto the mat. "I'll show you how it's done."

Maureen stepped forward. "Davis, you're going down." The room was filled with tension.

"Right hand blue!"

"Left foot yellow!"

"Right foot red!"

Fifteen minutes later, Maureen and Roger were still going strong. "Left foot blue!" Maureen reached her foot out, but fell on her back. Roger jumped up and began his own little victory dance, which consisted of him jumping up and down and moving his arms in wild motions, while chanting, "Oh yeah! Oh yeah! I won! Go Roger! Go Roger! It's your birthday! It's your birthday!"

"ROGER! Shut up!" Collins yelled. Roger stopped dancing.

Mark and Angel's "Twister battle" went on for about five minutes, ending when Mark collapsed on top of Angel. Mimi and Maureen jumped up and down in excitement. Mark hurriedly apologized to Angel as he stumbled upright. Roger folded his arms as Maureen began to poke fun at his victory dance.

"Okay! I have an idea!" Roger said as a way to get Maureen to stop dancing around like a chicken.

"We're going to play...Drum roll please!" Roger banged on the couch. Collins rolled his eyes. "Spin the Bottle!" Roger picked up an empty root beer bottle and set it on its side on the floor. No one moved. "Come on!" Roger exclaimed. Everyone sat around the bottle in silence.

"The rules are: you HAVE to kiss whoever is closest to the tip of the bottle. No exceptions. Meaning, the same sex. You have to kiss them. And this is not cheek kissing. This is Lip Kissing." Roger said the last two words very slowly and clearly. Joanne sat uneasily. She'd never played Spin the Bottle before. She didn't like the sound of it, either.

"Who wants to start?" Maureen asked.

"I will, since it was my idea," Roger said. Joanne held her breath. The bottle landed on Maureen. She gasped. "EW!" she said. Roger looked up at the ceiling. "Why?" he mouthed to the heavens. Roger crawled over to Maureen, who covered her mouth. "Come on, Maureen. Let's just get it over with." He leaned forward and quickly pecked her on the lips. Maureen barely had time to react. Roger crawled back over to his spot in the circle without a sound.

Maureen spun and it landed on Collins, who burst out laughing. Maureen made quite a show of crawling over to him and kissing him. It was more like a peck, which Collins returned unenthusiastically. When they broke apart, Maureen playfully slapped him. "Where was the enthusiasm in that?" she said laughing. Collins spun. It landed on Angel, who turned bright red. Collins crawled over to him. Angel closed his eyes and felt Collins' hot breath on his face. Soon after he felt Collin's lips on his own. Angel saw sparks in his eyes even though they were closed. He felt such an explosion of pleasure and bliss that he never wanted to end. But it did. All too soon.

Angel, still in a daze, spun the bottle. It landed on Joanne. She was petrified. She'd never been kissed before, and certainly not by a friend. Angel gave her a little peck, in which she had no idea what she was doing. Angel went back to his spot. Joanne reached out a shaking hand and spun the bottle. Well, it was more like she gave it a little push. It moved over one person, to Maureen. _Oh god, no! Please let this be a dream!_ She thought wildly.

When Maureen saw the bottle land on her, she felt as though her heart had stopped. _No way. I am not kissing Joanne_, she thought stubbornly. But she turned to Joanne anyway and their lips touched. Joanne couldn't believe the way she was feeling. It was as though she were floating on air. She felt dizzy. The kiss seemed to go on forever, but forever was not enough. When they broke apart, Joanne sat in shock. _What was that?_ She thought.

Maureen spun again, and landed on Mark. She went over to him. Mark was paralyzed. He couldn't move, he couldn't think. When he felt Maureen's lips on his, he knew that this was the best moment of his short life. It was over much to fast for him. When the bottle landed on Mimi next, he wasn't as excited. Their lips barely touched and Mark couldn't care less.

Mimi spun. She landed on Roger. They both sat frozen, unable to move. Roger knew that in the back of his mind he had been waiting for this to happen the whole time. They shared a small, lovely kiss. Clearly, Roger had some experience. Mimi felt her entire body go numb as Roger pulled away. Roger felt light-headed. _Whoa_, he thought.

"Joanne! Your mother's here!" Joanne slowly got up from her spot on the floor and found her shoes at the end of the room. Maureen followed her, since she was being driven home by Mrs. Jefferson.

"Bye, everybody!" Maureen said cheerfully. Joanne waved goodbye. Collins followed them upstairs to be polite.

"Oh yeah. Jo, Maureen, we're all getting together again on Sunday, at the Tree of Life Café over by the supermarket. 10:30 a.m., sharp. Be there," Collins said. The girls both nodded and left.

The Tree of Life Café was a café that Roger, Collins and Mark had discovered a few years before, and they soon made it a "tradition" of sorts to meet there for breakfast on Sundays. They called it the "Life Café" because Roger thought the real name was stupid, and they spent so much time there it had become their "life" Collins decided that it was time to let them all in on the tradition.

Soon after, his other guests left and he started to clean up. The party had certainly been entertaining. He hoped that the others had felt the same way.

**Please review! It makes me happy! No flamers!**


	6. I Can't Ice Skate!

**Hey! I'm so excited! I'm finally updating! This chapter is relatively short. It's kind of a little side thing. It was orginally going to include a lot more, but I moved that to another chapter because no one would want to read it. It would be wayyyy too long. Anyway, I hope you guys like it. Everything that happens to poor Joanne in this chapter happened to me the last time I went ice skating. Haha. Oh yeah, and Collins refers to "Google" twice in this chapter, but he's never done so before. Let's just pretend he always does it. lol.**

**I just realized what an evil person I've been and haven't thanked everyone for reviewing!! I'm so sorry!! Thanks to everyone who has reviewed!!!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Rent. Duh. Why else would I be writing fanfiction about it? I don't own anything else you recognize, either. **

Chapter 6-I Can't Ice Skate!

_Mark_

Mark awoke on Sunday morning earlier than usual. His parents were awake, but he didn't feel like talking to them. He just wanted to think.

Collins had called everyone the day before and informed them that they were all going ice skating after breakfast at the Life Café. Mark was excited. He had visions of him and Maureen holding hands and skating around romantically. But then he remembered that he couldn't skate. He was going to make a fool of himself! Maureen was going to think he was a loser. "I'm not going," he said aloud.

"Not going where, honey?" Mark's mother popped her head in the door.

"Nowhere, mom."

"What would you like for breakfast?"

"Mom, I'm going to the Life Café later for breakfast," Mark reminded her.

"I know dear, but that's two hours away. You'll be starving."

"I'll be fine," Mark said.

"I'll make you some eggs." Mark's mother left and closed the door behind her. Mark rolled his eyes.

_Roger_

When Roger got to the Life Café, he saw Collins and Angel chatting by the door. They noticed him looking out the window of his mother's car and waved. Roger opened up the door and fell out of the car. Collins and Angel roared with laughter.

"Bye honey, have fun!" Roger's mother called out to him as she drove away.

"Oh, stop it!" Roger called to Collins, who was imitating him falling out of the car. "Why are we going ice skating?" Roger asked when he reached them.

Collins rolled his eyes. "It was Maureen and Angel's idea."

When everyone else arrived, the seven were seated at a large table near the back of the café. While everyone was looking through the breakfast menus, Roger looked at the seating arrangements. He sat next to Collins, who was next to Angel. Across from Angel was Mark, (how Mark ended up on the opposite side of the table Roger didn't know) who sat next to Maureen. Joanne was on Maureen's other side, and Mimi was next to her, across from Roger.

"I'm starving!" Roger exclaimed as he flipped through the menu.

"Why doesn't that surprise me at all?" Collins asked. Roger kicked him under the table.

"Collins! Oh my gosh guess what?" Maureen asked.

"What?"

"Nikki said that in her school, they get laptops!"

"Why can't we get those?" Collins complained.

"Who the heck is Nikki?" Roger interjected.

"Your mom," Maureen answered.

"Thanks," Roger said. He turned to Collins. "So, who's Nikki?"

"Google Search her," Collins said, grinning.

"Dude, seriously." Roger was beginning to get annoyed.

"Maureen's really good friend. She moved to Colorado."

"Is she hott?"

"Roger, get a life," Maureen answered. Roger thought about telling Maureen to do the same thing, but he didn't really feel like participating in an argument all morning. So he kept quiet.

The waitress came over to take their orders. She had blonde hair that was obviously dyed and looked as though there were a million other things she'd rather be doing than waiting on a bunch of middle-school kids. Roger ordered the "Deluxe Breakfast Platter" that had everything on it: eggs, bacon, pancakes, French toast, the works. "You're such a pig," Mark said jokingly. Everyone else agreed. Roger ignored their exclamations of "Ew!" and "You'll never eat all of that!" when he was served his breakfast and immediately began to devour it.

"Mimi! Joanne! Come with me to the bathroom?" Maureen blurted out. The three girls quickly grabbed their purses and hurried to the bathroom. Roger wondered why girls always had to go to the bathroom in groups. Maureen was probably perfectly capable of going to the bathroom by herself. _Then again, maybe not_, Roger thought, chuckling to himself.

_Maureen_

Maureen, Mimi, and Joanne walked to the bathroom together in silence. The bathroom wasn't far from their table, and Maureen didn't want to start a conversation for fear of being overheard. The second the three walked into the bathroom and shut the door, Maureen launched right into what she wanted to say.

"Do you think Mark likes me?" she asked.

Mimi looked surprised. "What do you mean?"

Maureen sighed. "Well, first of all, he purposely sat next to me; he ordered the same thing as me; and he keeps staring at me!" Maureen took a deep breath.

"He stares at you?" Joanne asked.

"Yes! I can see him out of the corner of my eye."

"Maybe you had something in your teeth," Mimi suggested.

Maureen gasped and ran over to the mirror. "That's supposed to make me feel better?" she exclaimed as she searched for anything in her teeth.

Mimi rolled her eyes. "There's nothing there."

"Anyway, what do you think?" Maureen asked as she stepped away from the mirror.

Mimi sighed. "Well...I don't know, but I think I have an idea."

_Mimi_

Mimi's idea was fairly simple: she would switch places with Angel, who sat across from Mark and see if he was staring at Maureen. There was one problem. Angel wouldn't switch. Mimi pulled him off to the side. "If you won't switch, will you do something for me?" she asked him.

"What do you want me to do?" Angel asked.

"Keep an eye on Mark. But don't make it obvious."

Angel was confused. "Why?"

"Well...Maureen thinks Mark likes her," Mimi answered.

"Okay...but why am I watching Mark?" Angel asked, still confused.

"Just...see if he's staring at her or anything. Please?"

"Fine."

Mimi smiled. "Thank you!" Mimi watched Angel scratch his nose. "Are you wearing nail polish?"

Angel turned red and looked down at his feet. "I thought I took it off," he mumbled.

"No, Angel, it's okay. I told you, I like it, remember? And no one else will notice. Don't worry about it."

"But...what if they do?" Angel asked quietly.

Mimi grinned and put up her fists. "Then they'll be hearing from me!"

_Angel _

Angel sat quietly, eating his French toast and watching Mark. Every few seconds, he'd steal a quick glance. Normally Mark was staring down at his pancakes, or looking at whoever was talking. But this time, he was staring at Maureen. He wasn't making it obvious, but Angel could tell he was staring. Mark's body was facing Collins, who was telling a story about how he got his head stuck in a fence, but his eyes were on Maureen. Seconds later, Mark moved his arm and spilled his entire glass of milk on Maureen's lap. She screamed. Roger howled with laughter.

"Oh, gosh, I'm...I'm...so sorry..." Mark stuttered. Maureen ran towards the bathroom followed by Joanne.

_Mark_

_God, I'm such a loser. I can't even eat breakfast like a normal person. How am I going to ice skate? _Mark thought miserably. He looked over at Roger, who was still cracking up. "Shut up!" he exclaimed. Roger didn't shut up. Mark knew he wasn't going to, but it was worth a try. He tried again, and again. Mark was starting to lose his patience. He opened his mouth to really let Roger have it, but...

"ROGER! SHUT _UP_ ALREADY!" This came from Mimi. Mark jumped and almost knocked over the napkin holder. Miraculously, Roger stopped laughing. Mark didn't say anything for the rest of the meal. When they got outside, Mark reached into his pocket for the cell phone his mother had given him in case of an emergency. The phone was dead. _Some help this would be in an emergency_, Mark thought.

"Mark! Come on!" Roger called. The ice rink was right next to the café, separated from each other by a parking lot. The rest of the group was already halfway across the parking lot, but Mark hadn't moved. Roger gave him a questioning look and motioned for Mark to follow him. Mark knew he had no choice and followed the group.

When they got to the rink, a hockey game was finishing up, so they had to wait a little bit until they were able to enter the rink and rent their skates. Everyone amused themselves by playing various arcade games. Mark sat a little ways away from everyone else, wishing he could go home.

Finally, the hockey game ended and the seven rented their skates. Roger needed to tie Mark's skates for him, since he had no idea what he was doing.

Mark watched as everyone sped off onto the ice. He stood apprehensively at the entrance to the ice, wishing he was somewhere else. Just as he picked up his foot to step inside, Mark heard a grunt behind him. He turned and saw Joanne struggling to walk over to the entrance.

"Sorry, am I in your way?" he asked her quietly.

"No, take your time. I have no idea what I'm doing." Joanne smiled.

"Mark! What are you doing? Come on!" Roger called out to him. Mark rolled his eyes and stepping slowly onto the ice. He stayed balanced for a few seconds, then toppled sideways. He caught himself on the edge of the rink before he fell on the ice.

"You're suck a sissy, Mark," Roger said as he skated over.

"I've never done this before!" Mark said defensively.

"Look, all you've got to do is keep your feet straight," Roger said, demonstrating. Mark tried to imitate him, but ended up falling on Roger's shoulder.

"Could you lovebirds stop it? You're freaking me out," Collins said, chuckling as he skated next to Roger. Mark quickly righted himself and leaned on the wall again for support.

"What are you two doing off to the side?" Collins asked.

"Mark's being a sissy," Roger answered.

"Roger, shut up," Mark said. Roger, of course, didn't listen and began skating little circles in front of Collins and Mark chanting, "Mark is a sissy! Mark is a sissy!" until he tripped and almost fell over. Angel, who noticed the small commotion, came over to investigate.

"What's going on?" he asked.

"Mark needs help," Collins explained.

"_Major_ help," Roger added.

Angel looked at Mark, who was holding onto the wall for dear life. "I'll help you, it's easy."

Mark didn't really know Angel very well, but Collins was always talking about him, and he seemed like a kind person. "Okay."

_Joanne_

Joanne hadn't moved from the entrance to the ice. She was too afraid. She knew she couldn't do it. There was just no way she could do it. Roger and Collins skated over to her.

"You haven't even gotten in yet?" Collins asked her. Joanne shook her head. Roger laughed.

"You're worse than Mark!" he exclaimed. Joanne didn't say anything.

"Oh, stop it, Roger," Collins said, grabbing Joanne's right arm. "We'll help you get in." Roger rolled his eyes and grabbed Joanne's other arm. Joanne tried to tell them that she was perfectly fine watching everyone else, but no sound came out. She decided that she should just be grateful for their help. Joanne stepped slowly onto the ice. Roger and Collins let go of her at the same time and she fell onto Roger.

"What is it with people falling on me today?" Roger complained as he set Joanne upright.

"It's because we all just _love_ you, Roger!" Maureen chirped as she approached them from behind Roger. She stepped back a bit and kicked him in the back.

"OWW!" Roger screamed loudly, attracting the attention of other people out on the ice.

"Come one, I didn't kick you that hard!" Maureen exclaimed.

"But you're wearing ice skates!"

"Whatever." Maureen grabbed Joanne's arm. "I'll help you, Jo." It was rough going at first. Joanne was barely able to balance, much less skate on her own. Once she managed to balance for a few seconds, she'd fall right down as she tried to move. Joanne lost count of the amount of times she fell.

Eventually, she ended up with Maureen holding one of her arms, Mimi holding the other one, and Collins behind her incase she fell backward. It was extremely embarrassing.

Maureen had to let go of her for one second, because she had hair in her mouth, when disaster struck. Joanne fell sideways, where Maureen would have been holding her. Mimi tried to pull her back upright, but she only succeeded in changing the direction of Joanne's fall. Collins wasn't doing his job, so she continued to fall. When it was all said and done, Joanne was on her back, facing the direction that Maureen would have been covering. Mimi was still holding Joanne's other arm.

"Hey Collins, whatever happened to catching me?" she spat.

Collins looked sheepish. "I forgot." He grinned.

Joanne was not amused. She pulled her arm from Mimi's grasp and tried to pull herself up. All she managed to do was falling into Maureen's legs. "Joanne! I'm so sorry!" Maureen exclaimed, helping Joanne to her feet.

"Hold on a second," Mimi said thoughtfully. She reached down and pulled up Joanne's pant leg to fully expose her ice skate. "No wonder why you can't balance! Your skates are tied wrong!" she said. Maureen and Mimi (Collins had been fired from helping Joanne) helped guide Joanne over to a hockey bench nearby. Mimi began to retie Joanne's skates for her.

Angel skated over with Mark in tow. "What's going on?" Angel asked.

"I'm an uncoordinated idiot," Joanne explained bleakly.

Maureen put her arm around Joanne's shoulders. "You're not an idiot Jo!" she exclaimed.

Joanne felt a chill go down her spine, but she assumed it was just from the cold of the ice rink. She smiled. "Thanks."

"When are we leaving?" Mark complained out loud. Maureen giggled.

"Mark has some...issues with skating," Angel explained. Mimi got up from the floor and turned to face Mark. "Do you need your skates retied too?" she asked him.

"Well, Roger tied mine."

"Then we'd better check," Maureen said. His skates were fine, and they all split up to go back to skating. Joanne was still having some issues, but she was able to balance without a bunch of people supporting her. Angel and Mimi stayed with her just in case, while Maureen went to help Mark.

_Maureen_

_Angel was right,_ Maureen thought. _Mark does have skating issues._ The poor kid was stumbling all over the place, and couldn't balance at all. Maureen thought it was kind of cute. She put her hands on his waist and started to guide him. It was a little awkward and probably looked ridiculous, but Maureen didn't care.

"What are you doing?" Mark asked.

"Helping you skate. Now go on, I've got you." Mark skated a few inches and fell backward, onto Maureen. She collapsed from the weight of holding him up. Mark slowly turned his body so he was lying on his stomach, still on top of Maureen. "I'm so sorry!" he croaked. His face was beat red.

Maureen smiled. "Don't worry about it. I'm used to being hurt," she said, and her eyes widened. She hadn't meant to tell him that. Mark looked at her curiously and opened his mouth to speak.

"What on earth is going on here?" Collins interrupted as he skated towards them. Maureen sighed in relief. She really didn't want to elaborate on what she had just said.

Collins was standing over them superiorly. "My mom called and said she's waiting in the parking lot and that we should probably start to get going," he said as he helped Mark up.

_Collins_

After they dragged Mark off of the ice, returned their skates, and called their parents, Collins had to wait with his friends to make sure they got picked up. He didn't have to, but his mother _suggested_ that it would be a good idea since he organized everything. Angel was going over to Collins' to hang out.

Joanne's mother came first, then Mark's, then Roger's, then Mimi's. It was only Maureen left waiting with Collins and Angel now.

They waited ten minutes with no sign of Maureen's mother. "I'll bet you anything that Brian had to get picked up and she went to get him first," she said angrily.

Another five minutes passed. Collins' mother offered to drive her home, but she politely refused and called her mother again. After she hung up she looked furious. "I knew it. Brian was at his new girlfriend's house and my mom wanted to meet her. Ew."

"Do you want my mother to give you a ride?" Collins asked. Maureen obliged, and they took her home.

Once they got to Collins' house, Angel ran straight to the computer, having never seen his own since his sister practically lived on it. He immediately signed into AIM and began IMing Mimi.

"Tell her I say 'long time no see,'" Collins said.

Angel put his fingers on the keyboard to type, and it was then that Collins noticed the nail polish. It was a sheer pink, almost clear, but Collins noticed it. He decided not to mention it.

Once Collins was finally able to get Angel off of the computer, they decided to take a walk. Collins took out his cell phone and started prank calling random numbers, and Angel joined in. They ended up accidentally calling Mark's house and had to stop.

"Hey, Collins?" Angel asked quietly.

"Yeah?"

"Can I tell you something that you promise you won't tell anyone else?"

"Sure." Collins wondered what was so secretive.

Angel opened his mouth to speak, and then closed it as if he was struggling to find the right words. "What do you know about cross-dressers?" he said finally.

Collins laughed. "Aren't they those guys who dress up like women?"

"Yeah..." Angel mumbled.

"So...what's your point?"

Angel took a deep breath. "You promise you'll still like me?"

Collins was appalled. "Of course I'll still like you!" he exclaimed. "Unless, you're this, like psycho killer or something."

Angel smiled. "Well...I think I want to be one."

"A psycho killer?" Collins hid behind a tree.

"No, silly! A cross-dresser!"

Collins stopped dead in his tracks. Angel? A cross-dresser? That would explain the nail polish. He came out from behind the tree. "Wait...so, you wear girl's underwear and stuff?"

"Well...no. But when no one's around, I like to put on my sisters clothes and stuff...Collins, something's wrong with me!"

"What are you talking about? You're perfectly..."

Angel cut him off, talking in hysterics. "I bet there's no seventh grader in the world who wants to be a cross-dresser!"

"Google search, 'seventh grade cross-dressers' and I'll bet you people would come up."

"Would you stop with the computer?" Angel exclaimed. "It's always, 'Google search this' and 'Google search that'! I don't think the computer can help me right now!"

Collins froze. He didn't know what to say. Then he saw Angel, slumped up against a tree, crying. Collins put an arm around him. "Hey, Angel..."

"It's not fair! Why did I have to be different? Why can't I be normal?" Angel wailed.

"Angel, calm down. We're going to get through this."

Angel looked up. "We?"

"I'm gonna help you," Collins said.

"You are?"

"Of course I am." Angel pulled Collins into a tight hug. "Angel...Can't...breathe..."

"Sorry," Angel said, smiling as he pulled away.

"Have you told anyone else?" Collins asked.

"Just Mimi." Angel's eyes widened. "Collins, what if someone finds out and makes fun of me?"

"Then...then they'll be getting a beating from me!"

Angel laughed. "Mimi said something similar."

"Good. We can beat them up together. Give them the ol' 'Wax on, wax off!'" Collins started to do some made-up karate moves.

"'Wax on, wax off'?" Angel asked, perplexed.

"You've never seen _The Karate Kid_?_"_

"No."

"Then let's go watch it. Come on."

**Please Review!!! NO FLAMERS. Thanks.**


	7. Boredom, Embarrassment, and Excitement

**Yay! Another pointless chapter!! . So, the only incredibly important thing that happens in this chapter is Maureen's audition for the play. So...yeah. That's about it. Enjoy!**

**Thanks to everyone who reviewed!! **

**I don't own Rent, blah blah blah. Or anything else you recognize.**

Chapter 7-Boredom, Embarrassment, Excitement

_Maureen _

_I hate Mondays, _Maureen thought as she walked into her Social Studies class and took her seat. She took out her binder and began to copy down the "Do Now" question on the board before her teacher yelled at her. Roger walked past her desk. She stuck out her foot to trip him, but he saw what she was doing and stepped over her foot. Mark tripped instead.

"Mark! I'm so sorry!" Maureen chirped. Mark set himself upright and smiled slightly. "Don't worry about it," he said.

Mrs. Laske came into the room and shushed them. Maureen prepared herself for a boring history period while her teacher began to talk about the forms of government or something like that.

Out of boredom, Maureen began to doodle and write her favorite lyrics from Wicked in a fancy way all over her paper. She decided that she would try to listen to her teacher and take notes, but she could barely keep herself interested in the topic. She finally gave up completely. After what felt like hours, but was actually about ten minutes, something interesting happened. Someone knocked on the door.

Mrs. Laske opened the door and in walked the assistant principal, Mr. Agovino. The class looked at him apprehensively, wondering if he was there to bring someone down to the Dean's Office.

"Hello, if any of you don't know me, I'm the assistant principal, Mr. Agovino," he began, as he always did when he walked into a room. "I just wanted to come and tell your class personally that one of your classmates has received the highest grade in the grade seven Pre-Assessment in the school. Is Mark Cohen here today?"

The entire class looked around to see if Mark was there. Some students had no idea who he was, so they just sat in confusion. Mark slowly raised his hand.

"Congratulations Mark," Mr. Agovino said. Mark mumbled "Thank you," in reply. "Mark has received a perfect score on his assessment. I think you should all be very impressed with him. Have a nice day." Mr. Agovino walked out without another word. Maureen hated him. He was always so...smug. Like he knew something everyone else didn't know. And he was always handing out punishments for trivial things, like running in the halls. How could they expect the students _not_ to run when they're given four minutes to get from one end of the school to the other?

"Well, Mark, you should be very proud of yourself. The Pre-Assessment was very difficult. A handful of students failed. Anyway..." Mrs. Laske continued on with the lesson. Maureen thought about the Pre-Assessment. It was a pointless thing the teachers had to give to their students at the very end of sixth grade, as a way to prepare them for the Social Studies assessment they were taking in eighth grade. That seemed like a very long ways away to Maureen, and she wondered why they weren't given the test in seventh grade instead? Maureen's sixth grade teacher said it also had to do with something about their seventh grade teachers learning more about the students by what grade they received.

Maureen hated taking that test. She had to sit in her one hundred degree classroom for two hours, in complete silence. She had to write a DBQ essay too, which she'd been doing since fifth grade, but the people who made up the test must have picked the hardest subject ever. It took Maureen twice the amount of time it normally would for her to write the essay.

After class, Maureen went over to Mark while he was packing his books into his book bag. "Hey, Mark, congratulations," she said. "I think I was one of those people that failed. How come you're not in the 'smart people classes' like Collins and Joanne?"

"I don't think my other grades were high enough. I did really bad in Math and Science last year," Mark answered, putting his bag over his shoulder. Roger came out of nowhere behind him.

"Come on, nerd-o, I'm going to be late to chorus," Roger said.

"Hey! That was mean!" Maureen exclaimed.

"What?"

"Calling Mark 'nerd-o'. He's not a nerd!"

Roger frowned, like he was trying to think of a good comeback. "Fuck off, Maureen, I'm just teasing him," he said. Mrs. Laske overheard.

"Roger Davis!" she exclaimed. "What language you use!" Roger looked sheepish and walked out the door. Mark and Maureen followed.

"Roger! Oh my gosh! Joanne has chorus this period! You have to tell her I say 'hi'!" Maureen exclaimed. Roger ignored her and kept walking. Maureen shook her head and walked away from the two boys.

_Angel _

"Class, today we are learning about Order of Operations..." Angel groaned. He hated math. It was his least favorite subject, which was probably why he did so badly in it. He didn't like how there was only one answer to problems. As his teacher started talking about what you're supposed to do first when you're doing math problems, he let his mind wander to the previous day, after he told Collins about how he wanted to be a cross-dresser. He was thinking about how Collins said that he would have Angel's back. It made him feel warm and fuzzy inside. Angel was also thinking about what happened when they went back to Collins' house.

FLASHBACK

_Angel and Collins were in Collins' basement, about to watch_ The Karate Kid. _Angel made himself comfortable, sprawled out on the couch, taking up the whole thing. _

_"Comfy?" Collins asked sarcastically._

_Angel grinned. "Yes I am." Collins shoved Angel over a little bit to make room for himself. Angel shoved him back. They ended up having a mini shoving match until they were both sitting Indian-style, side by side. _

_Collins put in the movie and they sat in silence until Mr. Miyagi told Daniel to wax his car. "I thought he was teaching him how to do karate!" Angel exclaimed. _

_"Just watch."_

_As the movie progressed, it began to make more sense to Angel. Finally... "Oh! I get it now!" Angel got bored after that, and fell asleep. _

_"Angel! Wake up!" Angel opened his eyes slowly. "This is the best part!" Angel watched the climactic scene where Daniel and Johnny fight against each other in the final round of the competition._

_When the movie ended, Angel realized that he had fallen asleep on Collins' shoulder and hadn't moved since. And Collins hadn't said anything about it._

END OF FLASHBACK

Angel got the chills as he thought of that. Did Collins _want_ Angel to rest on his shoulder? Did Angel want Collins to want Angel to rest on his shoulder? Did Collins even notice it?

"Angel!" Mrs. Boyce, his math teacher, was trying to get Angel's attention. "Angel, do you think you could get your head out of the clouds and tell us the answer to number five?" Angel looked down at his notes and realized that he hadn't copied anything down. He was going to be in so much trouble.

_Collins_

Collins was in Social Studies, so bored that he wanted to fall asleep. He checked his watch. 12:05. The period was over at around 12:30, meaning that he still had to sit in this class for another twenty-five minutes. He didn't think he could last much longer.

Joanne seemed to be listening intently. Collins had to wonder how on earth she was able to pay attention in such a boring class. Then again, she cared a lot more about her grades than Collins did. He put his head down on his desk and stared out the window. The leaves were beginning to fall off the trees, earlier than usual. His front lawn was covered, as were the lawns of his neighbors. He laughed to himself as he remembered his father getting very angry when he woke up on Sunday morning to a leaf-covered lawn, meaning that he had to rake everything up before he was able to mow it.

He checked the clock again. 12:07. _You have got to be kidding me_, Collins thought. He looked back over at Joanne, who was rummaging through her backpack. She sat in the row next to him, in the front seat. He sat in the second seat in his row. They were close. Very close. He ripped a piece of paper out of his binder and scrawled a note, and then tried his best to toss it in Joanne's general direction. The note hit Joanne on her arm, and she looked up. Collins raised his eyebrows and pointed discreetly to the note. Joanne looked confused. He rolled his eyes and mouthed, "I sent you a note!"

"What?" Joanne mouthed back. Collins pointed to the sheet of paper next to her backpack. She looked at it, and then nodded in understanding. _Finally_, Collins thought.

_Joanne_

Joanne picked up Collins' note and unfolded it subtly. "I'm really bored. Are you bored? I'm really bored. And you know what? I have that annoying song Maureen is obsessed with stuck in my head. This really sucks. And I'm really bored," the note said. Joanne giggled quietly and wrote back, in her impeccably neat handwriting. "Haha. What song?"

"I don't know the name. The one from Wicked with the lalalala and all that," the note said when Joanne got it back. She wrote, "Ooooh. 'Popular'!" and threw it back to him. It was a wonder they never got caught.

_Mimi_

"I am so excited!" Maureen was squealing, jumping up and down. Mimi really wanted to slap her across the face and get her to stop being so annoying, but she thought better of it. They were at lunch, and had just arrived. Angel and Joanne were already sitting at the table.

"Maureen! Shut up!" Mimi shrieked, putting her books down on the table. Maureen pouted. "Am I allowed to be excited?" she asked.

Mimi rolled her eyes. "Of course you are, just...oh, never mind."

"Okay." Mimi took out her lunch, which she realized was her sister's. "Ew. This is my sister's lunch," she announced to the table.

"Why do you have your sister's lunch?" Collins asked, walking over to the group.

"Because I took it accidentally, smart one."

"I know I'm smart." Collins grinned.

Mimi sighed and began to pick apart her sister's sandwich, which had cheese and turkey. Mimi hated turkey.

"What's up with you today?" Collins asked her.

"Just one of those bad days," she explained.

"What happened?" Joanne asked, joining the conversation unexpectedly.

"Let's start from the beginning, shall we?" Mimi began. "Well, my mother woke me up late, I almost missed the bus, I got a 54 on my math quiz, I sat in a puddle in Cooking, I dropped my English poster in the hallway and someone stepped on it..." Mimi paused for breath.

"Ew. That's terrible," Joanne said.

"That's just before fourth period!" Mimi exclaimed. Joanne looked appalled. "I was late to chorus, and Mrs. Garofalo embarrassed me in front of the whole class by making me sing alone, I twisted my ankle in gym, and now I have my sister's lunch."

Maureen patted Mimi's arm. "Well, we're here to make you happy again!" she said. Mimi smiled. "Thanks."

"That's right," Angel piped up. He handed her his bag of chips. "You can have my chips." Mimi took them gratefully, and wolfed them down. Maureen helped cheer her up by being quiet about her audition all lunch period. Joanne and Angel both gave her more food, and Collins pointed out that one of her problems on her math test that was marked wrong was actually correct. "You guys are the best," she said happily.

_Maureen_

Maureen was finally beginning to feel nervous. Her audition was at 3:25, less than an hour away. She was feeling excited too, because anything that had to do with plays or acting made her excited. When the bell rang signaling dismissal, Maureen dashed to her locker in the E-wing and waited for Mimi to show up.

Mimi finally came walking down the hallway, with Joanne and Angel in tow. "We decided to come and support you!" Angel exclaimed. Maureen squealed and hugged him, then Joanne, who asked, "Are you nervous?"

"A little," Maureen admitted. "But I'm really really excited!"

The four walked to the orchestra room, which was acting as a "holding room" of sorts where the students would wait until it was their turn to audition. When they got there, a tall and intimidating ninth grader handed them all information sheets (Mimi, Joanne, and Angel disposed of them when she wasn't looking) and instructed them to sit down. The director of the play, Mrs. O'Boyle, spoke to them about the procedure, and left to prepare for the auditions. Maureen looked down at her information sheet:

Name: Grade:

Homeroom: Home phone number:

Acting/Dancing/Singing Experience:

Audition Song:

Preferred Roles (If any):

Maureen eagerly filled out the sheet in her favorite pink pen. When she was done, she took a look around the room at the competition.

A tall blonde girl sat in the row next to Maureen, filling out her sheet intently. _A potential Sandy_, Maureen thought. A couple of other girls milled around the blonde one, like her groupies. Maureen noticed that none of them seemed to be holding information sheets. Maureen saw a few potential Dannys, a few Kenickes, and one boy that strongly resembled Sonny.

"Hey, Maureen, what time is your audition?" Joanne was asking.

"3:25."

"Oh, so you have a lot of time. What song are you singing?"

Mimi and Angel, who were deep in conversation, turned to hear what song Maureen was singing. After being badgered endlessly during the past week about their opinions on songs, they were eager to hear which one Maureen had finally decided on.

Maureen smiled. "For Good."

Angel was confused. "Huh?" he asked.

"It's from Wicked," Mimi clarified, rolling her eyes.

"Why doesn't that surprise me at all?" Joanne asked. Maureen stuck her tongue out at her.

The four passed the time by talking and joking, and writing on each other's hands (Courtesy of Maureen). At 3:20, Maureen felt like her insides were going to wriggle out of her. She took a few deep, calming breaths, catching the attention of Angel.

"You okay?" he asked.

"Just a little nervous," Maureen answered. She closed her eyes for a few seconds.

"Hey, Maureen, you should probably get near the door now," Joanne pointed out. Maureen checked the clock. 3:22. She nodded and walked slowly over to the door, getting in line behind a short girl with red hair. The girl turned around.

"Hi. Seventh grade?" she asked.

"Yeah. How'd you know?"

"Just a hunch," the girl said. "Who are you trying out for?"

"Well, any of the pink ladies are fine with me. But I'd really love to be Rizzo."

The girl laughed. "No offense, but you probably won't get Rizzo," she said.

"Why?" Maureen asked.

"Because Marisa Browns is going to get it." The girl pointed at another girl, across the room.

"How do you know?"

"Because she always gets one of the leads. And so does Alison Grey, the blonde one over there." She pointed at the blonde girl that Maureen had noticed earlier. "Alison is going to be Sandy, and Marisa is going to be Rizzo. It's obvious. I'm surprised so many people are auditioning for Rizzo and Sandy. They know that they're not going to get it."

Maureen frowned. "That's not fair. Maybe they won't be Rizzo and Sandy. There are probably plenty of other people here with talent."

"You can believe what you want," the girl said as she walked away. "Good luck!"

Maureen turned her back on the girl and turned her attention to the person walking out the door. He was the 3:23, meaning that it was Maureen's turn. She took a deep breath and walked into the chorus room, where the auditions where being held. A wide smile spread across her face as she opened the door.

"Hello," Mrs. O'Boyle said pleasantly. Mrs. Hidalgo, the music director, echoed her.

"Hi!" Maureen said excitedly.

"So, I'm assuming you know the drill, you can start when you're ready."

Maureen nodded and took a deep breath, getting ready to sing her heart out.

"_I've heard it said  
That people come into our lives for a reason  
Bringing something we must learn  
And we are led  
To those who help us most to grow  
If we let them  
And we help them in return  
Well, I don't know if I believe that's true  
But I know I'm who I am today  
Because I knew you: _

Like a comet pulled from orbit  
As it passes a sun  
Like a stream that meets a boulder  
Halfway through the wood  
Who can say if I've been changed for the better?  
But because I knew you  
I have been changed for good..."

Mrs. O'Boyle cut her off there. "Thank you, very much," she said. Both she and Mrs. Hidalgo were smiling. Maureen hoped this was a good sign. She thanked them and left the room, still high from her audition. Mimi greeted her excitedly when she walked back into the room.

"How did you do?"

"I thought I did amazing!" Maureen exclaimed.

"High-five!" Angel shouted, holding up his hand. Maureen slapped it, hard.

"Ow!" Angel squealed. Maureen just laughed. She couldn't wait until Wednesday, when the callback list would be posted.

**Pleeease review!!!!!!!**


	8. Friendship Really is Thicker Than Blood

**Wow, you guys have no idea how sorry I am about how long it took me to update. I hope you all enjoy this chapter, it came out a little wierd. I didn't really have time to proffread it, I really wanted to update so I'm sorry if there are any errors. **

**This chapter is dedicated to Tannenbaum Bell because she was orginially the first one to review the previous chapter. Thanks to everyone who did review, however.**

**I don't own Rent, duh. **

Chapter 8- Friendship Really is Thicker Than Blood

_Collins_

When Collins got to lunch on Thursday afternoon, everything seemed normal. Joanne, Mimi, and Maureen were already there, munching on sandwiches and chips. Angel was usually late, because he had gym class and liked to change alone, instead of in front of the entire class. Collins put his lunch bag on the table and took out his sandwich when a commotion outside the cafeteria caught his attention.

An older boy; eighth grade by the looks of him, was pushing around a smaller boy. The smaller boy wasn't really doing anything do defend himself, he was letting the older boy walk all over him. The older one was pointing and laughing, and then nudged his friend, who began to laugh too. A few other boys came into view, and were cracking up. It was then that Collins realized that the smaller boy was Angel.

Collins saw Angel run towards the cafeteria doors, keeping his eyes front and trying to ignore the bullies. Once he got into the doors, Angel looked calm and collected as thought nothing had happened.

But the boys had followed him. "Faggot!" and "Fairy!" they called, slapping each other high-fives. Angel slammed his books down on the table and buried his head in his hands on top of them. Collins put a comforting hand on Angel's arm.

"Hey, Angel..."

"Leave me alone!"

"Come on, Angel-"

"I said leave me alone!"

Collins fell silent. He felt a lump in his throat and pushed his lunch away, his appetite gone. Mimi looked over. "Angel! What's up?" she asked. Angel didn't answer.

"Are you okay?"

"Fine..."

Mimi didn't look satisfied. She poked Angel in the back, a secret little joke of theirs. Angel didn't look up. Maureen and Joanne, who had been oblivious to everything around them, looked over in concern. Maureen even stopped talking.

Then, as if triggered by a switch, Angel burst into tears. Collins hurried across the table and sat next to Angel, allowing him to lean on his shoulder.

"Ang...What happened?"

"This...this boy was calling me names and...Pushing me...and..." Angel was so overcome with tears that he couldn't talk anymore.

Mimi looked furious. "Where is he? What did he look like?" she snapped, looking around the cafeteria like a wild animal searching for its prey. Maureen and Joanne hurried over to offer support. They put their arms around Angel and hugged him close.

"I saw him...he was dark and...tall and he was wearing green..." Collins said quietly. Mimi looked toward the Snapple machine, where a boy identical to Collins' description stood. "Him?" she asked, pointing. Collins nodded.

Mimi leapt up. "Lemme at him!" she started to run towards him. Joanne and Maureen followed her and caught her by the arms.

"Let go of me!" Mimi shrieked, trying to wriggle out of their grasp.

"You can't just go picking a fight!" Joanne exclaimed hysterically, tightening her grip on Mimi's arm.

"Oh yes I can!"

Just then, the boy turned in their direction. He was tall and dark, like Collins said, and had a face that suggested that he was not one to mess with. His eyes were dark brown, narrowed, viewing the world with hatred. Maureen gasped and let go of Mimi in surprise.

"What?" Joanne asked frantically.

"That's...that's..."

"Who?"

"...Benjamin Coffin! Oh my gosh!" Joanne gasped and covered her mouth with her free hand. Collins whipped around and saw that the boy was indeed Benjamin Coffin. The whole school knew who he was, and even Maureen who had only moved to the neighborhood a few years before. Benny was known for being a huge bully and picked on anyone he felt like. He was the worst to pick a fight with; he'd have someone pinned in sixty seconds, with a black eye to boot. He'd been held back a few times, which explained why he looked so much older. Collins had known him since kindergarten, when they had an unpleasant encounter on the playground.

FLASHBACK

_Collins was running around on the playground, chasing his best friend Roger_, _who had stolen Collins' favorite bouncy ball. It was the red one with the yellow and orange flames going around it, his favorite. The one day he decided to bring it to school, Roger took it. Collins knew he was only joking, but Roger was clumsy and he didn't want anything to happen to it. _

_He ran around the big oak tree, and ran smack into someone taller than him. Hoping it wasn't a lunch aide, Collins looked up and gasped. The boy standing before him was the meanest kid in the school: Benjamin Coffin. He was a huge bully, picking on anyone and everyone for one reason or another. He even threatened some of the second-graders! Collins gulped. _

_"Well, well, well," was all Benny said. Then he began to punch Collins, in the nose and the mouth and cheeks, finally landing his biggest blow in Collins' stomach. A lunch aide came rushing over to make sure Collins was okay, and then sent Benny to the principal's office. And Collins never did get his bouncy ball back. _

END OF FLASHBACK

"Hey, you! Get over here!" Mimi's voice brought Collins back to earth.

_Mimi_

"Yeah, you! Get over here!" Mimi yelled to Benny, despite Maureen and Joanne's frantic protests. She put her hands on her hips and faced him. Joanne covered her eyes.

"You talkin' to me?" Benny spat as he walked over.

"Yeah, I'm talking to you! Do you know that was my best friend you just picked on?" Mimi said confidently.

"Which one? I can't keep track." Benny smirked.

"Angel." Mimi pointed at Angel, who had stopped crying and was watching the scene in front of him with bated breath.

Benny looked at him. "Ohh... the faggot, huh?" he asked coolly.

Mimi couldn't even think. She lunged at Benny, pinning him to the ground, and punching him in the nose. Benny looked furious, and pushed Mimi off of him. He stood up, with his fists raised. Mimi followed, ready to strike again. Benny was too quick for her and twisted her wrist all the way around. Mimi screamed; she had never been in so much pain. Benny let go of her arm and kicked her in the stomach, sending her flying into the wall.

"Hey! You two! Break it up!" A lunch aide had seen the entire fight and was rushing over to Benny and Mimi. She sent them both down to the dean's office. While she was walking away, Mimi turned back to Angel and mouthed, "I told you!" he smiled.

_Angel_

The four sat at the table in silence. No one knew what to say. Finally, Maureen piped up, "Well...I got a callback..."

This seemed to bring the others back to earth. "Congratulations!" Angel screeched, rushing over to hug her. Joanne followed suit, but Collins, however, gave her a high five. "I don't do hugs," he explained. Angel was confused. _He hugs me! _He thought. Angel gave Collins a quizzical look. Collins raised his eyebrows. Angel decided not to mention it.

"Angel, let me see your nails," Maureen said suddenly, as if she were talking about the weather. Angel slowly held his hand out to her.

"That is the prettiest color ever. Where'd you get it?"

"I don't know...it's my sister's." Angel had something else on his mind. "Did Mimi tell you?"

"No Ang, I just saw it, just now."

"You're not going to call me a faggot or anything?" Angel asked quietly.

Maureen looked him right in the eye. "Angel, I don't care! Do what you want. I love musicals, and you don't call me names do you?"

Angel frowned. "But that's different..."

"No, it's really not. It's just who you are. And I accept that. It's part of a friendship."

Angel felt his eyes fill with tears again, but this time they were tears of joy. "You guys are the best!"

Joanne smiled. "We know."

_Maureen_

Maureen walked slowly down the hallway to the orchestra room, where they were told to meet for callbacks. Her heart was beating so loudly she could hear it echoing around her. _Why am I so nervous_? She thought. _I'm never this nervous! _She walked into the room and chose a seat next to a short boy with a round face and a confused look about him. Mrs. O'Boyle got their attention and began to explain the procedure. Then she called a few girls into the room to start callbacks.

"Hey, I know you," someone said from behind Maureen. She turned and saw the girl she'd met at auditions, the one who had told her all about the girls who were apparently getting the leads in the play.

"Oh, hi," Maureen said quietly.

"So, you got a callback, huh?"

_No, I'm just here for my health_. "Yeah."

"Congrats." The girl walked away. _Weird_, Maureen thought. Mimi had nicknamed the girl "the know-it-all from auditions" after Maureen and told them all about her.

After about twenty minutes of sitting around, Maureen finally heard her name. She walked slowly towards the door with a few other girls, the know-it-all from auditions among them.

"Okay, right now we're reading and singing for the pink ladies. Uh...Maureen, you read for Marty, Christine, read for Jan."

The "know-it-all" took a script from Mrs. O'Boyle, and Maureen followed suit and looked at her lines.

When prompted, Maureen began to say her lines. In her opinion, she said them beautifully, and the girl called Christine was atrocious. After reading for Frenchy and Jan, Mrs. O'Boyle asked a few girls to leave (Christine among them) and handed the remaining girls some sheet music. "Freddy My Love" was printed at the top. Mrs. Hidalgo played the opening chords and had each of the girls sing a few measures. Maureen noticed Mrs. O'Boyle looking at her thoughtfully after she'd finished. Finally, Maureen was free to go. She retreated back to the orchestra room and sat quietly off to the side, not talking to anyone else.

That was unlike her. Usually Maureen was the center of conversation, commanding the attention of everyone in the room. It didn't matter if she knew the people or not; she always needed attention. But she wasn't in the mood to talk to anyone but her friends. Maureen took out her hand-me-down cell phone and flipped it open, checking for service. No bars. _Figures_, Maureen thought. Just as she put her cell phone away, she heard her name called by Mrs. O'Boyle again.

When Maureen walked into the chorus room, she was surprised to see that there were only four other girls in the room with her. When she'd read for the Pink Ladies, there were about ten girls there. Maureen shrugged and approached the piano, standing next to a tall dark haired girl that she recognized as Marisa Browns. According to Christine, the "know it all" Marisa was apparently going to get the part of Rizzo.

Mrs. O'Boyle handed each girl a script and sat down at the piano. Maureen looked at the lines highlighted in a fluorescent yellow marker, somewhat blinding to look at under the lights of the chorus room. The lines belonged to Rizzo. Maureen smiled excitedly to herself. "Maureen, you can start. Read the first set of lines, right there." Mrs. O'Boyle prompted Maureen. Maureen took a deep breath and tried her best to sound like a Rizzo.

Marisa went next, and Maureen could see why everyone thought she was going to be Rizzo. It wasn't as though she was trying to imitate any other actresses playing Rizzo; she had her own style. Maureen thought she was pretty entertaining.

The other three girls did their part, none of which had the Rizzo kind of charm that Maureen felt she had. "Okay, now we're going to do a little singing," Mrs. O'Boyle said, looking pretty excited. Each girl sang a small part in "Look At Me, I'm Sandra Dee." Mrs. O'Boyle stopped Maureen earlier than she'd stopped everyone else. Maureen hoped that was a good sign.

At five o' clock, Maureen's mother came to pick her up. Maureen got into the car, feeling like she'd given Marisa Browns a run for her money.

_Roger_

"Dude, this is like, really weird," Roger was saying to Mark over the phone.

"Roger, you're obsessing."

"I am not! I just really wanna know what happened!"

Mark giggled on the other line. "Do you like her?"

Roger accidentally dropped his guitar on his foot in shock. "No way!"

"Sure..."

"Mark, I DO NOT like her!"

Mark sighed mockingly. "Okay, fine. I have to go, see you tomorrow. Call Collins and ask him what happened, it was his lunch period, wasn't it?" Mark hung up. Roger sighed and dialed the familiar number that belonged to Collins, who answered the phone after the second ring.

"Collins, hey."

"Hi, Rog, what's up?"

"Oh...nothing. You know, the ceiling..." Roger paused and took a deep breath, then asked loudly and anxiously, "What the hell happened today?"

"What do you mean?" Collins asked, sounding a little startled at Roger's tone of voice.

"I saw Mimi sitting in the dean's office with Benjamin Coffin! What the hell happened?"

"Oh...that."

"Are you gonna answer me?"

"Well...Benny was calling Angel names and stuff at lunch so Mimi started beating him up."

Roger's eyes widened. "That was Mimi?"

"Yup."

"Wow..." Roger could hear his mother calling him from downstairs. "Man, I gotta go. See ya tomorrow." Roger hung up the phone and walked into the kitchen. His parents were sitting at either end of the table in complete silence.

"Roger, sit down," his mother said quietly. Roger's eyes darted back and forth between his parents as he lowered himself into a chair, leery of what they wanted to talk to him about.

"Roger, your mother and I have to tell you something important," his father said tersely.

_No, really?_ Roger thought obnoxiously. "Okay..."

"Roger, your father and I are getting a divorce."

Roger thought his jaw was cemented shut. He couldn't move, he couldn't think. _Divorce...divorce...getting a divorce... _his mother's voiceechoed over and over in his head.

"Roger, say something!" his mother pleaded.

Roger clenched his jaw and said nothing, keeping his eyes down, staring at the kitchen table.

"Roger, please!"

Roger stood up from the kitchen table abruptly and ran full speed out of the kitchen. He thundered up the stairs and into his bedroom, slamming the door so hard that a hinge came loose. He heard his father follow him and begin knocking on the door to get him to open it.

"Roger! Come on! Open up!" Roger got up and put his desk chair in front of the door so his father wouldn't be able to open the door.

"Roger! You're acting like a child!"

"I AM a child!" Roger slid down against the wall and folded his arms.

"Open up the goddamn door!"

"LEAVE ME THE HELL ALONE!" Roger screamed at the top of his lungs. He heard his father sigh and stomp back downstairs. Roger put his chair back where it belonged, and wiped the tears still streaming down his face. Then he picked up the phone and dialed the first number that came to mind.

"Hello?" Mark answered.

Roger tried to sound as though he had not just been crying. "Hey, it's me."

"Oh, hey, Rog. Did you find out what happened with Mimi?"

"What? Oh yeah, that..." Roger had completely forgotten about seeing Mimi in the dean's office earlier that afternoon. "Uh...she beat up Benny. That's why she was there."

Mark laughed.

"Mark?"

"Yeah?"

"I have to tell you something important. But you can't tell anyone."

"Okay..."

Roger took a deep breath. He decided it was just best to come right out and say it. "My parents are...getting divorced."

A clatter and silence.

"Mark?" Roger asked quietly.

"Sorry," Mark panted. "I dropped the phone. Did you say your parents are getting a _divorce_?" Mark sounded shocked.

"Yeah." Roger sighed.

"Wow...I'd never expect that from your family. Don't your parents get along?"

"Not lately..." Roger sighed again.

Silence.

"You there?" Roger and Mark asked at the same time. Mark laughed while Roger merely smiled.

"Do...you want me to like...come over?" Mark asked suddenly.

"What? Why?"

"Well...I've seen on TV that when a girl is upset or something her friends go over to her house to cheer her up..."

"Are you calling me a girl?" Roger asked.

"No...I was just...saying..."

"I'm kidding, Mark."

"Well, do you?"

"Um...I guess...if you can get out of the house."

"Alright, I'll try." Roger hung up the phone and sat on his bed. He picked up his guitar and plucked a few strings before shaking his head and putting it back down. He wasn't really in the mood to play.

Why would they do something like that to him? It just didn't make any sense. His parents used to get along...until Roger started middle school...Was it his fault? He hadn't been very pleasant since he started school. He'd been moody and irritable, and kind of annoying. And his grades had been pretty low...His grades were always a source of disagreement between his parents. His mother always wanted to get him a tutor, and his father just thought his mother was worrying too much, and that Roger would eventually pick up his grades. Except that Roger didn't care about his grades, which provoked another argument. It was a vicious cycle. Roger realized he was crying again then the phone rang.

"Hello?"

"Hey, it's Mark. My mom says I can come over for like an hour or so."

"Cool," Roger said and hung up the phone again. He grabbed his sweatshirt from on top of his bad and slipped it on. After checking to make sure his parents weren't nearby, he walked quickly out of his room and down the stairs. He peered around the corner before walking out the front door and sitting on the stoop.

Mark's mom pulled up a few minutes later and said that she's be picking Mark up at 8:00, because they had school the next day. Roger checked his watch. 6:45.

_Mark _

Mark waved goodbye to his mother and approached Roger, who was sitting on his stoop. He abruptly got up and began walking towards the sidewalk. Mark followed, confused. "Where are we going?" he asked.

"Walking."

"Walking where?"

"Around."

"So...how are you doing?" Mark asked slowly.

Roger didn't answer for a second. "Okay...I guess."

"Are you sure?"

"I don't know."

Mark decided to drop the subject. He wasn't very good at comforting, either. The two walked in silence for a while. The night was so quiet that all that could be heard was the crunching of the leaves under their feet and the sound of their breathing. Mark tried to say something comforting, but he didn't know what to say. He sighed and looked around at the houses. Everything always looked so peaceful to him at night. "Oh..." Mark said suddenly, stopping short.

"What?"

"Look whose house that is." Mark pointed at a house directly across the street from where the two were standing. The house was small, with white siding and a white front door. The windows were plain, with the typical flowerboxes underneath. All of them looked exactly the same, except for one. One of the windows had pink and orange curtains hanging in front with a long string of colorful beads strung along it.

"Whose house is that?" Roger asked, clueless.

"Maureen's."

Roger groaned. "Great," he said, and continued to walk down the street.

Mark hurried to catch up. "You live near Maureen?" How had he never known?

"Not really."

"Not really? What do you mean 'not really'? We just walked past her house!" Roger didn't answer. "How...far have we walked?"

"Far enough that we're near Maureen's house," Roger said.

"How far does she live from you?" Mark was beginning to get very nervous.

"Uh...pretty far..."

"Roger! I'm gonna be in so much trouble! What time is it?"

Roger looked at his watch. "7:52."

"Roger! My mother is going to KILL me! We have to go home! NOW!" Mark cried hysterically.

"Keep your pants on; we'll just go back the way we came." Mark breathed in and out slowly, trying to keep himself calm. He knew his mother would be infuriated if he wasn't there when she came to pick him up from Roger's house.

After a few minutes of walking, Roger asked, "Do you recognize any of these houses?"

Mark looked around, catching a glimpse of a huge pink house and another with a boat in the driveway. "No..."

"Shit."

"Are we lost?"

"Uh...possibly."

Mark felt his heart skip a beat. "What are we gonna do?" he cried.

"You still have that cell phone?" Roger asked calmly.

"Yeah."

"Gimme it." Mark handed his emergency cell phone to Roger, who flipped it open and groaned. "What?" Mark asked.

"No service. Keep walking."

Mark and Roger continued on, stopping every few seconds to check and see if Mark's phone had any service.

"Mark, you need to get a new phone service. This one sucks."

Mark stopped dead in fear. "Do you hear that?"

Roger rolled his eyes. "What?"

"Shh..."

Mark heard rustling in the bushes behind them. At first he thought it was just the wind, but the night was completely still.

"It's probably just a cat or something. Come on."

Mark began walking, looking behind him every few seconds at the bush.

"Mark, be mature. It's just a-" A tinny ringing sound filled the air. Roger jumped in surprise and accidentally threw the source of the noise, Mark's cell phone, into the air. Mark caught it and answered, his heart beating madly.

"Hello?"

"Mark? Where on earth are you? I've been waiting here for fifteen minutes!" his mother screamed into his ear.

"Uh...we don't really know..."

"What do you mean you don't know?" Mark winced as his mother's voice got louder. "Uh..."

Roger wrenched the phone from Mark's grasp. "Uh, Mrs. Cohen? We went for a walk and now we're kinda lost. Do you think you can come get us?" Pause. "Uh..." Roger glanced at a street sign nearby. "Smith lane. Uh huh. Thanks."

Mark's mother pulled up in her car a few minutes later, looking absolutely furious. Mark knew he was going to be in a lot of trouble.

_Maureen _

The very second Maureen stepped off of the bus the next morning she went running towards the D-Wing. The cast list was going to be posted there, in front of Mrs. Hidalgo's classroom. When she got into the hallway, she thought she was going to die from anticipation. Maureen hurried to the opposite end, where a bunch of people were congregated, looking at the list. Maureen pushed her way to the front of the crowd and scanned the list.

Grease

Sandy...Alison Grey

Danny...Jason Anderson

Kenicke...Nicholas Levine

Rizzo...Maureen Johnson

Maureen was unable to contain her excitement. She screamed and ran towards the staircase. Joanne's homeroom was just upstairs, and Maureen needed to tell her. She couldn't keep it to herself, she was too excited.

Joanne was walking into the classroom just as Maureen approached it.

"Joanne! Joanne! Oh my gosh!" was the only thing Maureen was able to say.

"What?" Joanne asked, stopping in her tracks.

"I...I...I'M RIZZO!" she screamed.

Joanne looked confused for a fraction of a second, but then she broke into a huge smile. "That's great!" Maureen beamed. "Congratulatory hug!" Joanne shouted, embracing Maureen.

"I have to go! I'll see you at lunch! Oh my gosh!" Maureen called to Joanne when they broke apart and she began to walk away, feeling happier than she had in a long time.

**PLEASE REVIEW!!!** **No flamers!! I'm not really sure where I want the next chapter to go so if anyone has any suggestions please let me know! Thanks!**


	9. Author's note

**Hey, guys. I'm just "updating" to let you guys know that I'm definitely NOT going to be updating with the next chapter any time soon. I'm really, really, really, REALLY sorry. I feel really badly that I'm leaving you guys hanging. I've been busy, and writers block has been taking over, and I haven't been motivated, either. Terrible excuses, I know. **

**I just wanted to let you know that the story hasn't been abandoned; it's just...moving slowly. I'll try to get working on it ASAP. **

**Vicki **

**p.s. if anyone has any plot ideas, PLEASE let me know. I'm stuck. I'll consider anything, serioufuckingly. I will. Thanks!**


	10. Shopping and Flirting

**Helllooo! So how many of you just did a victory dance in front of your computers? –Cricket, cricket- Nobody? Okay, fine, be that way. :) I'm going to apologize again for the long wait, though you guys should be used to it by now. Lol. Uh, anything else I wanted to say? Yes. Thank you so so so so so SOOO much for everybody who came up with suggestions, they are all awesome and I'm going to try and incorporate each and every one of them!**

**P.s. This chapter is realllyyyy MarkMaureen-ish. Don't worry; I'm going to find a way to get Joanne in there! (If anybody has any ideas as to how I should go about doing that, PLEASE let me know!) This chapter came out REALLY weird, I'm not sure how I feel about it. You guys will let me know what you think, I'm sure. :) **

**Oh, if anybody happens to catch any errors, like spelling, grammar, punctuation, whatever, let me know! I want to get better.**

**I own nothing. Except maybe the plot.**

Chapter 9- Shopping and Flirting

_Mark_

Mark was worried. Very worried. About Roger. He seemed to be keeping his words to a bare minimum during the last few days, only speaking when he was spoken to directly and when he wasn't able to answer the question with a simple grunt or nod. He wasn't eating very much, either. Mark knew that he ought to mind his own business, considering the fact that Roger didn't really like to draw attention to anything that was wrong with him, but Mark couldn't help checking in on Roger every few hours at school to make sure he was doing okay.

"Rog, are you... okay?" Mark asked Roger during lunch on Tuesday.

"Mark, if you ask me that one more time, I'm gonna kill you." Mark sighed. That was the end of that.

"So...what's up?" Mark asked timidly a few minutes later.

Roger looked at him and said nothing. Mark sighed again and took a bite of his sandwich. "Did you tell Collins?" he asked Roger abruptly.

"...Yeah, on Sunday."

Mark nodded. The two sat in silence for the rest of the lunch period, both lost in their thoughts. Mark wondered why Roger was so closed about everything. _Why does he always have to keep everything inside?_ Mark thought. _Why won't he talk to me? _

When the lunch period ended, Mark and Roger headed for study hall in silence. Mr. Viegas, their teacher, greeted them at the door. "Hey, guys, some of the language teachers are coming in to talk to the class and I want you to be on your best behavior, okay?" Mark and Roger nodded, and went into the classroom to take their seats. A bunch of teachers were assembled at the front of the room, talking quietly amongst themselves. Mark wondered what was going on.

Once the bell rang to signal the beginning of class, a stout, older woman called for the class' attention. The class quieted down almost instantly; she didn't look like the person to make angry.

"Hello. My name is Mrs. Aquila and I am the chairperson of the language department," the woman began, with a slight accent that Mark decided was either Spanish or Italian; he couldn't really tell. "You may have seen me around the building. I'm here in your study hall class because we've decided to bring back Exploratory Language." Mark had no idea what Exploratory Language was, but he remembered one of his older neighbors saying something about it when she was in seventh grade. "Exploratory Language is just that. It is a class where you students will be able to explore the languages we have to offer you, so you can choose properly for next year."

Mark hadn't even thought about choosing a second language. He knew he was probably just going to take Spanish, because it was easy, (or so he heard).

"Your Exploratory Language class will take the place of your study hall." Mark perked up at this statement; he never really liked study hall. He thought it was completely stupid and pointless. At least they were getting rid of it.

Some of the other language teachers said things, which Mark didn't pay any attention to. He and Roger left class ten minutes later, discussing the changes. "So, what do you think?" Mark asked Roger.

"Eh, it's okay. I kinda liked sitting around and doing nothing, though."

"It gets boring though."

"Yeah." Silence. Mark felt like crying out in frustration and grabbing Roger and shaking him, to force him to talk. Why were things so awkward? Roger was his best friend, there shouldn't be any awkwardness! Mark bit his tongue and walked slowly to his last class, glad that the end of the day was finally nearing.

_Maureen_

"Would all seventh grade classes please report to the auditorium? Thank you." The assistant principal's voice rang throughout the chorus classroom. Maureen couldn't help feeling a little disappointed; she always looked forward to chorus. She put away her folder and got on the end of the line to leave the room with the rest of the class.

The walk to the auditorium wasn't far; it was only a few steps. Mrs. Garofalo led the class through one of the side doors and ushered them into the front row. A portly man stood off to the side of the stage, setting up some posters and advertisements. Maureen pulled her knees up to her chest, making herself more comfortable. She looked to her right and noticed that Mark was sitting next to her. "Hey, Mark!" she said cheerfully. Mark started. "Oh, hi."

"I had no idea you were in my chorus class!" That was a lie. The rules of flirting were filling her mind, making it difficult to concentrate on anything else.

"Oh. Well, I am." Mark fell silent.

"So, do you know what this assembly thingy is about?" Maureen asked Mark, tossing her hair.

"Uh, I heard something about a fundraiser or something?" Mark said nervously.

Maureen rolled her eyes. "Bleh. Boring. I wish we could've stayed in chorus."

Mark shrugged. "I don't really like it."

"Why?" Maureen asked curiously.

Mark shrugged again. "I don't really like singing much."

"I love it!" Maureen squealed. Mark smiled slightly, but kept silent. _How am I gonna get this kid to talk?_ Maureen thought desperately. She sat quietly, trying to come up with a topic they could talk about that didn't have to do with her, which was proving to be very difficult.

"So, Mark, what did you get on the Social Studies unit test?" Lame. At least it was something.

"94."

Maureen giggled. "I got a 72," she said sheepishly.

"Uh...wow..." Mark said, smiling a teeny bit.

"Hey, are you laughing at my limited academic abilities?" Maureen joked.

"No...I just..." Mark stammered. Maureen couldn't help but laugh.

"I was kidding!" she squealed.

"Oh..." Mark's pale face turned beat red. Maureen burst out laughing. _He gets embarrassed easily!_ Once she recovered herself, she looked at Mark, who looked as though he was trying not to laugh. Then, Mark burped loudly. Maureen just lost it. She was bent over, cackling madly and trying to get herself to breathe, tears streaming down her face. Mark was laughing, too. Maureen put her hand on Mark's thigh, laughing too hard to notice what she was doing. Mark gasped.

"What?" Maureen managed to choke out. Her breathing began to even out. Mark seemed frozen and didn't answer; he only shifted his eyes towards her hand. Maureen raised an eyebrow and lightly squeezed his thigh. "Hmm...You've got to get some meat on those bones!" She removed her hand from Mark's thigh, watching for his reaction.

"Uh...yeah, I...I guess I do," he spluttered.

_Mark_

Mark was unbelievably embarrassed. Burping in front of Maureen was bad enough, but when she put her hand on his thigh...Mark had never felt anything like that before. He looked into Maureen's spectacular green eyes, exuberant and full of happiness, without a care in the world. Without even thinking, he began, "Maureen, I..." but he was interrupted by the principal, who was getting the assembly started. The principal introduced a man, who was apparently going to tell the students about a fundraiser. Mark lost interest once the fundraiser man began talking. He thought about Maureen, and what would happen if he asked her out somewhere. Would she say yes? Would Mark even be allowed to take her out? What would _Roger_ think? Roger _loathed_ her.

Mark was jerked out of his thoughts a few minutes later, when the fundraiser man was holding up various colorful items. He was explaining how many (_of what?_ Mark wondered) they could sell to win the toy. Mark knew that anything he would win in a fundraiser would end up in his desk drawer or the garbage can within a month of the distribution.

After the assembly finally ended, Mark followed his classmates back to their classroom to collect their things so they could leave. Mark gathered his books and waited by the door, conveniently right next to Maureen. They stood awkwardly for a few seconds, and then she spoke. "Look, Mark, about before-"

Mark cut her off. "No, Maureen... uhm..." His words caught in his throat and he couldn't speak. He tried clearing his throat. "I...uh..." It was no use. Mark felt his face get hot.

"Cat got your tongue?" Maureen smirked. Just then, the dismissal bell rang, and the class streamed out of the classroom doors. Mark had missed his chance.

_Collins_

Collins, being the "event coordinator," (as he liked to call himself) of his friends, decided that they were due for another group get-together. But where to go? Collins called Angel after school that afternoon to ask his opinion.

"Hello?"

"Hey, Angel, it's Collins."

"Hi!" Angel sounded genuinely happy to hear from Collins.

"So, what's up?" Collins asked.

"Nothing really...You?"

"Actually, I was wondering if I could ask your opinion on something," Collins began.

"No, Collins, pink is _not_ your color," Angel said, giggling.

"Hey!" Collins laughed.

"No, really, what did ya wanna ask me?" Angel asked.

"Well, I thought we all could use a little get-together. What should we do?"

"How about ice skating again?"

"Nah, I think you, Maureen, and Mimi were the only ones who really enjoyed that one." Collins smiled.

"Ooh! I know! Let's go to the mall!" Angel suggested.

"Eh...I don't know about that..." Collins said apprehensively.

"No, Col, listen! The girls can shop and the guys can just hang out and stuff!"

"I guess that's cool. I'll run it by everyone. See ya tomorrow, Ang."

"Bye, Collins."

Collins hung up the phone and called Mark, then Roger, until he had called each one of his friends and shared his plans with them. They all agreed that Friday would be best, and that they would carpool to the mall. Collins couldn't wait until Friday.

_Maureen_

Maureen pranced merrily to her first rehearsal. It wasn't really a rehearsal, per se, it was just a gathering of the cast, and they were going to read through the script, as is the usual beginning rehearsals of a play.

Maureen entered the classroom they were instructed to meet in, and found it relatively empty. She walked over to one of the front seats and made herself comfortable, taking out the script she'd picked up at Mrs. O'Boyle's classroom earlier that day.

Soon after, other members of the cast entered the room and sat down in the desks. Maureen recognized Alison Grey, who had been cast as Sandy, and Marisa Browns, who ended up being cast as Marty. "Hi!" Maureen said cheerfully to the girls. She received two bitter glares in return. _What was that about?_ Maureen wondered to herself. She shrugged it off and turned her attention to Mrs. O'Boyle, who had just entered the room and was beginning to make an announcement.

After Mrs. O'Boyle's ten minute lecture, she passed out the scripts to the students who hadn't picked them up, and then prompted the lead characters to begin reading their lines. When Maureen got to her first line, she said it strongly, with confidence. When she'd finished, she heard a scoff from behind her. Turning her head ever-so-slightly, Maureen was able to see Marisa Browns sitting right behind her. Maureen considered confronting Marisa about it, but decided against it; she wanted to at least try to be polite to her new costars. _Besides_, she reminded herself, _I'm probably just imagining it. _

_Mimi_

Mimi emerged angrily from Joanne's mother's car. She'd been playing with the strap of her tank-top because it was a little big, and the strap had ripped. Now she looked like a complete loser, and it was her favorite top. "I can't believe this!" she cried when she stepped out of the car. Maureen followed, frowning. "Let me see it," she said thoughtfully. Mimi walked miserably over to Maureen and lifted her denim jacket off her shoulders to reveal the tear.

"We can probably sew this up. Do you have any thread?"

Mimi shook her head. Maureen then turned to Joanne, who was coming out of the car. "Do you have any thread on you?"

Joanne cocked an eyebrow. "Yeah, let me just get out my sewing kit," Joanne said sarcastically, reaching into her pocket.

Maureen giggled. "Ask your mom."

"Mo, she doesn't have any."

"You don't know that! Ask!" Joanne sighed and went back into the car to ask her mother for thread. She came back a few seconds later, shaking her head. Mimi folded her arms. "This isn't fair."

"What isn't fair?" Angel was making his way over to the girls, followed by a cheery Collins, an anxious-looking Mark, and a sullen Roger.

"Mimi's strap broke," Maureen said before Mimi could open her mouth.

"Aw, let me see." Mimi exposed her shoulder again, scowling. Angel took the broken strap in his hand. "I could fix this, does anyone have any thread?"

Maureen clicked her tongue impatiently. "We already asked everyone! Can we just _go_?"

"PMS?" Collins questioned, smirking.

"No!" Maureen screeched.

Mimi put an arm around Maureen and began to walk towards the doors of the mall. "Let's go!"

Maureen jumped up excitedly. "Wheee!" she squealed, running ahead of the rest of the group. Mimi heard a sigh behind her. She turned and saw Roger, looking unhappy, with his arms folded across his chest.

"What's up with you?" she asked him. He shrugged. "Are you okay?" Roger nodded. "Are you going to talk at all?" Roger shook his head. "Alrighty then," Mimi said, hurrying to catch up with Collins. "What's up with Roger?" she asked him.

"He's...not too happy. I don't know if he wants too many people to know why," Collins said in a low voice. "If he wants to tell you, he will." Collins raised his voice a little. "So he'll be emo in the corner all night." Mimi smiled.

_Mark_

Mark walked towards the mall doors with the others, trying to keep himself calm. There really was no need to be nervous, Maureen probably had forgotten all about their little...incident. That had been Tuesday, after all. He took a deep breath, and looked behind him at Roger. He was walking with his hands in his pockets, a frown playing on his face. Mark thought about going to talk to him, but he knew Roger was best left alone when he was in a mood like this.

"Hi, Marky!" Mark heard Maureen squeal next to him. He felt the familiar lurch in his stomach as he forced a smile. "Hey, Maureen."

"What's new?"

"Like I haven't seen you in a while, Maureen," Mark said, smiling. He'd just seen her at school, of course.

"I know! But I feel like we haven't spoken in a million years!" Mark laughed nervously.

"Loosen up, Mark! Sheesh!" Maureen thumped him on the shoulder as she said this. Mark smiled. He felt his stomach lurch again when Maureen leaned in to whisper in his ear. "I need to talk to you in private," she breathed. Mark attempted to find his voice. "O...Okay..." Mark decided not to get his hopes up; she could be leading him on, or asking about something school-related. ...Or she might want to tell him that she likes him. Mark took a deep breath; he was hoping that the latter was true, though he was also hoping it wasn't. Mark was just so confused.

A minute or so later, Mark found himself at the entrance of the mall. Maureen suddenly grabbed his arm and dragged him through the doors. "Where are we...?" Maureen cut him off. "Come here."

She led him to a relatively quiet area of the mall, where there were few stores, just some little stands here and there. Maureen looked him in the eye.

"Mark," she began, taking a deep breath. "Um, that day, at the assembly, well..." she swallowed hard. "Well, I felt, like, a connection between us. Did you feel it?" Mark nodded, afraid to speak. "And...Um...I really like you, Mark." Mark had no idea what to say. He smiled a little bit. Maureen giggled. They stood awkwardly for a minute or two, and then Mark spoke. "Maureen, I, uh, I really like you too," he said as Maureen beamed.

"So, where do we go from here?" Maureen inquired. Mark shrugged.

"Wanna...go to the movies or something sometime?" Lame.

"Sure, that could be fun!" Maureen squealed. The two stood looking into each other's eyes for a few minutes, when a tinny ringing sound broke the silence. "Hello?" Maureen answered her cell phone. A few seconds later she hung up. "Collins is wondering where we are, we'd better go back," Maureen giggled again. Mark and Maureen walked back to their friends, side by side, both grinning broadly.

_Collins_

"And where have you two been?" Collins asked as Maureen and Mark came walking over to the group. Maureen raised an eyebrow. "Nowhere."

"Hmmmm...Really?" Collins asked Mark, who nodded nervously. _Hm...They're not telling..._Collins thought. He knew that they'd both end up telling him, (separately, of course) because Collins was so close with both of them that it was impossible for him not to find out.

"So, what's the plan, compatriots?" Collins asked the group.

"Comp...what?!" Maureen blurted out.

"It means 'friends'," Joanne clarified.

"Thank you, Joanne," Collins nodded towards her. "What are we doing?"

"Shopping, duh!" This came from Maureen.

Collins rolled his eyes. "Yes, Mo, we're shopping. But are we all going to go to the same stores or what?"

Mark shook his head. "I'm not going into girly stores!"

Collins laughed. "Well, why don't we split into groups and go wherever, meet somewhere at a certain time, and switch off?"

They all agreed, and split up into groups of two with one group of three. Mark and Roger went wandering in a random direction; Angel dragged Collins to a nearby clothing store (Angel claimed that Collins needed better clothes); Maureen, Mimi, and Joanne wandered over to...well, pretty much every girl's clothing store in the mall.

**I'm going to switch POV's by which group I'm talking about, so it'll be in both (or all three) of their POV's instead of one at a time, I'm lazy. I think I just confused myself with that explanation, but you'll catch on.**

_Collins and Angel_

"Angel, where are we going?" Collins groaned. He wasn't looking forward to shopping at all, but Angel wouldn't take "no" for an answer, as he'd found out.

"You need better clothes, mister!" Angel said. Collins rolled his eyes.

"Sometimes you remind me of a girl."

Angel stopped walking. "What's...What's that supposed to mean?" Angel asked, feeling hurt.

_Oh, shit_. Collins thought. "No, Ang, I...I didn't mean..."

"Stop!" Angel cut him off. "Do you know how many times I hear that a day? From kids at school, and teachers, and my _father_? And now my best friend..." Angel wiped a tear from his face, determined to hold it together. They were in public, after all.

Collins' heart skipped a beat. "Angel, come on, I was...was kidding! I didn't mean anything like that!" Collins was beginning to think that the mall was a bad idea. He couldn't believe he would say something like that; he _knew_ how sensitive Angel could be.

Angel turned away from Collins and pulled himself together. The mall was his suggestion, after all, and he wasn't going to ruin it for Collins and everyone else.

"Hey, Ang, I'm sorry, I didn't realize-"

"Forget it," Angel said. He put a hand on Collins' shoulder. "I'm okay." He grabbed Collins' arm and led him to Macy's.

"Oh, Angel, are you kidding me?"

Angel frowned. "Nope, come on."

Collins humored Angel, because shopping for other people seemed to make him happy. Most of the clothes Angel had picked out were _not_ Collins' style, though Angel did pick out a nice-looking polo that Collins ended up buying.

_Maureen, Mimi, and Joanne _

Maureen opened up her wallet. "My whore of a mother only gave me thirty dollars," she announced to her friends. Joanne cocked an eyebrow.

"I'm sure your mom's not a whore."

Maureen turned to Joanne and raised an eyebrow. "You haven't met my mom."

"Well, no, but I'm sure she can't be that bad! She's your mom, she loves you!"

"That's where you're wrong, Jo," Maureen said sadly.

"What do you mean?"

"I don't wanna talk about it," Maureen mumbled.

Joanne stopped walking. "Are you sure?" Maureen walked past her. "Yeah." Joanne turned to Mimi, who was standing there, watching the conversation. "Do _you_ know what she's talking about?" Mimi shook her head.

"I don't think she likes to talk about it. Come on! We've got some shopping to do!" Mimi followed Maureen into the store she went into. Joanne followed, knowing that Maureen was hiding something; Maureen was her friend, and if something was bothering her, Joanne was determined to make her feel better.

Joanne realized that Mimi had left her alone, so she hurried into the store. She quickly located Maureen at the rack of clothes in the corner, looking for her size in a sparkly blue shirt. "Hey," Joanne greeted Maureen when she reached her.

"Hi!" Maureen squeaked. "I saw this shirt that would look _adorable_ on you! Come here!" Maureen grabbed Joanne's arm and pulled her in the opposite direction and stopped in front of a green tunic-looking shirt with a low neckline.

"Maureen, are you joking?"

"No."

"But...it's _green_." There were plenty of other things wrong with it, but Joanne decided to start with the color.

Maureen frowned and went to the other side of the rack. She could've sworn that she saw the same shirt and an orange-peach color.

"Look, Jo! They have it in peach!" Maureen smiled and took it off the rack.

"Maureen, my parents will kill me. Look at that neckline."

Maureen raised an eyebrow. "It's not like you won't be able to fill it out..." Maureen fanned out her hands and moved them in front of her breasts in a circular motion, raising her eyebrows suggestively.

Joanne felt her face turn a deep shade of red. She slapped Maureen's arm playfully to get her to put her hands down. "Maureen!" she squeaked.

"What? It's the truth!" Maureen handed she shirt to Joanne. "Try it on."

Joanne sighed miserably and walked towards the fitting rooms. Maureen grinned at Joanne and followed her so she could see what it looked like. Maureen knew the shirt would look great on Joanne; she had the right figure to pull it off. Maureen was too flat and skinny to wear it. She skipped over to Mimi, who was browsing at some pants. "Guess what?"

"What?"

"Mark likes me." Maureen had been waiting to tell someone; she thought she was going to burst.

"WHAT? No way!" Mimi squealed, giving Maureen a hug. Mimi had known that Mark liked Maureen, since that time they'd went to the Life Café, though now she knew for sure.

Maureen was jumping up and down annoyingly, and people were staring. Mimi rolled her eyes. "Maureen! Stop!" Maureen pouted but stopped jumping. Joanne emerged from the fitting room at this point, feeling very insecure. Maureen dashed over to her.

"I told you it would look awesome!" Joanne wasn't so sure. "I don't know..."

"Nonsense," Maureen mumbled, smoothing out Joanne's shoulders. "You _have_ to get it."

Joanne tugged at the bottom. "Are you sure it's not too small?"

Maureen shook her head. "It's supposed to be tight." She gestured for Mimi to come over. Mimi's eyes lit up when she saw Joanne. "You look amazing!"

"Really?" Joanne asked sheepishly. Maureen and Mimi nodded excitedly. Joanne decided to give in and bought the shirt. Maureen ended up buying a little mini-skirt ("To wear in the winter?" Joanne had asked bemusedly), and Mimi bought a pair of pink pants and a shirt to match. The girls hurried to the food court where they were supposed to meet the rest of the group.

_Mark and Roger _

"So...where do you wanna go?" Mark asked Roger.

"Home," Roger answered.

Mark sighed. "I'd take you there, but I don't have a car..." Roger said nothing. He'd begged Collins to let him stay home, but Collins insisted that Roger come with the group. Stupid Collins. Roger sighed. Mark sighed. The two stood in silence.

"Are you sure you don't wanna go anywhere?" Roger nodded. Mark checked his watch. "We've got an hour until we've got to meet everybody. Are we just gonna stand here the whole time?" Roger shrugged. "Why won't you say anything?" Roger shrugged again. Mark shook his head exasperatedly. "Let's go get a table for later, then," Mark suggested miserably, leading the way towards the food court. Roger followed, still annoyed.

Mark found a table that fit seven people, which was lucky, and sat down. Roger sat down beside him. The two sat in silence for most of the hour, with Mark making occasional small talk, while Roger barely held up the other end of the conversation. Mark and Roger were both very relieved when Collins and Angel came walking over to their table.

Collins frowned. "How long have you guys been sitting here?"

Mark shrugged. "An hour, I guess."

"How come?" Angel asked.

"Roger didn't want to go anywhere." Collins rolled his eyes and joined the two at the table. "I'm hungry."

Angel put down his shopping bag. "I'll go get us some stuff if you want," he offered. The other three obliged and gave Angel their orders and money.

"So, what'd ya buy, Collins?"

"Nothing really, just a shirt. Angel was helping me shop."

Roger stifled a laugh. The other two turned their attention to him.

"Did you just _laugh_?" Collins asked incredulously.

Roger smiled slightly. "Maybe."

"What's so funny?"

Roger shrugged. "The thought of Angel helping you shop, I guess...he's a little _girly_, isn't he?"

Collins shot up. "What's _that_ supposed to mean!?" he roared. "You know, Roger, this is so typical. The one time you actually open your damn mouth, you go and insult someone!" Collins folded his arms and breathed deeply.

Roger sunk deeper into his chair. "Look, Col, I didn't mean anything, I was just-"

"Just _what_?"

"I...I didn't know this was going to upset you, it was just a joke-"

"Yeah, well, Angel is my _friend_, okay? And he doesn't like it when _anyone _calls him girly or anything! So I would _appreciate_ it if you didn't call him that!"

Roger nodded. "I'm... uh, sorry, Collins."

As if on cue, Angel came walking over to the group cheerfully, holding a large tray of food. "What'd I miss?" he asked.

"Nothing," the three said in unison, none of them meeting Angel's eyes.

"HIIIII EVERYBODY!"

"Hi, Maureen," Collins mumbled, pretending to look angry about her entrance. She pouted, and skipped over to the table, sitting in the vacant seat next to Mark.

"Hello!" Mimi squealed, setting her bags on the chair next to Angel's. Joanne sat quietly on Collins' other side.

"How'd you guys do?" Collins asked. "Get anything good?"

"Nothing you'd like," Mimi answered. Maureen, Joanne and Mimi departed after that to get their food, and came back a few minutes later.

The group talked and joked loudly, teasing each other and stealing portions of their friends' food. Mark didn't join in much; he was watching Maureen. He was amazed by her ability to command attention, whenever she said something, everybody looked at her. She was so beautiful. Her long curls fell against her face every time she moved it, and her startling green eyes sparkled every time she spoke. More than once she turned her attention to Mark, and the two just stared into each other's eyes, lost in them. Mark couldn't wait to see where their relationship would take them.

**-sigh of relief- I have no idea why it was so LONG! Sorry! I hope you enjoyed it, now go review! Please!! I'm still taking plot suggestions! Thanks so much! I'm not sure when I'll get the next chapter up, I'm going to be getting a research paper assignment soon, but I'll update as fast as I can!**


	11. Strange Dreams and First Dates

**Hey, everybody! I'm sorry, AGAIN, for taking so long to update. Just as I posted the previous chapter, I had a paper to write, then the SAT Subject test for Biology to study for (590 baby! I was expecting like a 400 ;)) and then finals. I should really stop making excuses. Anyway. This chapter is interesting. And random, kind of. I'm not sure how I feel about it. There's a lot of MarkMaureen in here too, and a little tiny hint of MimiRoger. I had this whole AngelCollins thing planned for this chapter too, but I didn't want it to get too long. I promise, though, it's coming in the next one! **

**Uh...I think that's it. Thank you to everyone who reviewed with ideas and comments! If anyone happens to spot any grammar/punctuation/spelling/whatever errors, let me know. But, don't sit here and edit my story, that annoys me :) But be nice about it. I don't like meanies. :)**

**I totally own Rent. And Anthony Rapp is also skipping around my house in a tutu singing "I Feel Pretty" from West Side Story and eating brownies. –rolls eyes- I don't own anything else you recognize, either.**

Chapter 10-Strange Dreams and First Dates

_Mark_

Mark held his family's telephone in his hand, trying to keep it steady. He took a few deep, calming breaths and started to dial Maureen's number. It had been exactly eight days since Maureen and Mark had their talk at the mall. They had seen each other in school, of course, and ---after much persuasion from Maureen--- they'd exchanged little hugs in between classes. They talked on the phone almost every night, for hours at a time. Mark was convinced that he had a real-live girlfriend. He'd asked his parents if he would be allowed to take Maureen to the movies on Sunday, and they agreed as long as he checked in periodically. So here Mark was, calling Maureen on Saturday morning, his heart beating madly in his chest and sweat pouring down his face. He felt the phone sliding from between his fingertips, dripping from his sweat.

"Hello?" A man, who Mark supposed was Maureen's father, answered the phone.

"Uh, hi, can I speak to Maureen?"

"Yeah, hold on." A loud scream of, "HEY, SQUIRT! PHONE!" convinced Mark that it was actually Maureen's older brother that answered the phone.

"Hello?"

"Hey...Maureen, it's, uh, Mark," Mark spluttered.

"Hi, Marky! What's up?"

"Uh, I was wondering if, uh, you'd like to come to the movies with me tomorrow."

"Yeah, sure! Hold on," Maureen squealed. She came back a few minutes later.

"Are you going to be driving me? I mean, you don't drive, obviously, I meant-"

Mark giggled. "Yeah, Mo, my mom's gonna drive us."

"Okay!" Silence. "My mom says I can go!" Maureen said excitedly.

"Great, uh, so, is 7:00 good?"

"Yup," Maureen answered. "Hey, Mark, I've been thinking..."

Mark refrained from responding with "Oh, really? Congratulations!" which was a sarcastic comment he'd heard from Roger numerous times. "About what?" he asked curiously.

"I think you need a nickname."

"Uh, no, I really don't think so," Mark said nervously. Roger already teased him enough about having a girlfriend.

"No, you really do," Maureen said importantly. "Hm, how about honeybunch?" she asked. Maureen responded to her own suggestion before Mark could react. "No, that's dumb..."

Mark agreed. "Do I really need one?" he whined.

Maureen ignored him and started rattling off some silly nicknames. "Sweetie...dearest...babycakes...cupcake...pookie..." Maureen gasped in excitement. "POOKIE!" she screamed, nearly making Mark's eardrum explode. "I'm gonna call you pookie!"

"Uh, Maureen..."

Maureen interrupted him. "I gotta go, Pookie-" she squealed excitedly. "I'll see you tomorrow!"

"Bye, Maureen," Mark croaked before he hung up.

_Roger_

On Saturday, Roger sat in his bedroom, bored to death. His parents had left to go over some legal things or something, (Roger had been blasting his music when they'd told him where they were going) and he had nothing to do otherwise. He wandered down the stairs and decided to go on the computer. Roger signed onto AIM, to see if any of his friends were online. A message popped up, asking him if he'd like to accept and IM from "LatinaxPrincess." Roger accepted out of curiosity, wanting to know who it was.

**LatinaxPrincess:** Hey, it's Mimi!

**ElectricGuitar:** oh, hi.

Roger wasn't sure if he wanted to IM with Mimi right now, but he decided to talk to her for the time being.

**LatinaxPrincess:** supp?

**ElectricGuitar:** nmu

**LatinaxPrincess:** same

**LatinaxPrincess:** bored

**ElectricGuitar:** ya

**LatinaxPrincess:** ...?

**ElectricGuitar:** don't we hav a lot 2 say

**LatinaxPrincess:** ya i know

**LatinaxPrincess: **lol

**LatinaxPrincess: **so, r u ok?

**ElectricGuitar:** ya, y?

**LatinaxPrincess: **u seem kinda down

**ElectricGuitar:** eh.

**LatinaxPrincess: **"eh"? what's "eh"?

**ElectricGuitar: **it means im in the middle

**LatinaxPrincess: **I kno wut it means!

**LatinaxPrincess: **y r u "eh"?

**ElectricGuitar: **cause.

**LatinaxPrincess: **cause y

**ElectricGuitar: **just because

**LatinaxPrincess: **fine. brb, gotta do the laundry

Roger was definitely not going to tell Mimi about his parents. No way. Why did she care so much, anyway? They hardly knew each other.

**LatinaxPrincess: **back

**ElectricGuitar: **u do the laundry?

**LatinaxPrincess: **ya I have 2

**ElectricGuitar: **y

**LatinaxPrincess: **cause my moms real busy w. 4 of us running around

**ElectricGuitar: **u don't have a dad?

**LatinaxPrincess: **nope, my parents r divorced

Mimi's parents were divorced? How had he not known?

**ElectricGuitar: **was it hard 4 u?

**LatinaxPrincess: **what? The divorce?

**LatinaxPrincess: **kinda. But I didn't really kno my dad. But it was still weird that he wouldn't be around anymore and tht we were gonna have 2 move and stuff

**LatinaxPrincess: **but I guess it was 4 the better, 'cause I never woulda met u guys. sometymes I think about wut my life would b like if they never got divorced.

Wow, Roger had no idea Mimi was so...deep. He made to type a response, trying to come up with something intelligent. _What if she thinks I'm an idiot? _Roger thought. He stopped. _Why do I care so much all of a sudden?_

**ElectricGuitar: **that's y im "eh"

**LatinaxPrincess: **huh?

**ElectricGuitar: **'cause my parents r getting a divorce and idk wut 2 do. or think.

**LatinaxPrincess: **omg. Im sooo sorry.

**ElectricGuitar: **its k.

**LatinaxPrincess: **wanna tlk about it?

**ElectricGuitar: **nah, maybe some other time

**LatinaxPrincess: **u sure?

**ElectricGuitar: **ya, but thanks

Mimi and Roger IMed for hours that afternoon; they talked about everything from music preferences to favorite movies to their friends. Roger felt like he really connected with Mimi, something he'd never felt with a girl before. Roger was a little bit upset when she had to sign off, but he vowed to make sure they talked more often.

Roger shut off his computer soon after. He got up from the chair, crossed the living room to the couch, and collapsed onto it, lost in thought. He realized that, most likely, his parents' divorce directly affected something that was going to happen to him later in his life. He wondered if his life was going to change, like Mimi's did. Roger was thinking so hard that he fell asleep on the couch, and didn't wake up until dinnertime.

_Mimi_

On Sunday morning, Mimi woke up utterly perplexed. She'd had a bizarre dream that night. Mimi struggled to remember all of the details. She remembered a unicorn, and that she was _riding_ the unicorn. Apparently, she was looking for a certain shiny gem that had magical powers. And...Roger was there! Roger was stuck in a tree, and Mimi ended up rescuing him from the tree, which was threatening to swallow him up.

Mimi's thoughts were interrupted when a certain four-year-old pest launched herself on top of Mimi's bed and began jumping on the mattress, making Mimi's entire bed shake. "Consuela!" Mimi yelled, attempting to stop her sister from shaking the mattress. Of course, Consuela didn't stop, and continued jumping. Mimi rolled her eyes and tried to lift Consuela off the bed, gently. Mimi gave up after a while, and bellowed, "CONSUELA CARMELITA ESMERELDA MARQUEZ!"

Consuela stopped. "Are you mad at me?"

"NOW I am," Mimi grumbled, scooting Consuela out of the way and swinging her own legs over the side of the bed. "I'm up, what do you want?"

Consuela jumped delightedly off the bed and skipped over to her dollhouse. "Let's play!" she squealed. Mimi rolled her eyes and knelt next to her sister, and began to play dolls.

Luckily, about twenty minutes later, Mimi was rescued by a phone call from Joanne. "Hello?" Mimi answered when her mother handed her the phone.

"Hey, Mimi. Are you doing anything special today?"

"Unless you'd count playing dolls with my sisters 'something special,' no."

Joanne giggled. "Would you like to come over and hang out?"

"Sure!" Mimi squealed, and went to ask her mother if it was okay. It was, and Mimi arranged for her mother to drop her off at Joanne's around one o' clock.

By the time Mimi finished playing dolls with her sisters, (Ana and Maria had joined in too) got dressed and ate lunch, it was time to leave for Joanne's. They left the house at one o' clock, late, of course, and reached Joanne's by one-fifteen. "Sorry I'm late," Mimi said when Joanne opened the door.

"No worries," Joanne said, smiling. She led the way into her absurdly neat bedroom. Mimi flopped onto the bed. "What do you want to do?" Joanne asked her. Mimi shrugged.

"Want to just talk?" Mimi suggested.

"Sure," Joanne said. "So, like, omigod, I saw some hot guy at the mall, and he, like, looked at me!" Joanne blurted out while twirling her hair, speaking in a "valley girl" type accent, making Mimi fall off the bed, from laughing so hard.

"That was a good one!" Mimi choked through laughter. "You'd never know you were like that, if you went by how you act in school."

Joanne looked confused. "Whoa, what?"

Mimi giggled. "I meant that, if somebody from school saw you being all sarcastic and stuff, they wouldn't believe it was the same person."

Joanne nodded. "I'm just a shy person."

"I know. How come?"

Joanne shrugged. "I don't really know. I just am."

Mimi suddenly remembered her dream from the night before. "Wanna know something weird?" she asked Joanne, who nodded. "I had this weird dream, and Roger was in it..." Mimi proceeded to explain her dream to Joanne.

"That's really strange," Joanne said when Mimi had finished.

"Do you think it means anything?"

Joanne shrugged. "Have you spoken to Roger lately or anything?"

"Well...I was talking to him online, like, all day yesterday..." Mimi felt embarrassed for some reason unknown to her.

Joanne looked deep in thought. "You were probably just thinking about it or something...it probably just stayed in your subconscious."

Why was Joanne so smart? "What's a subconscious?"

"It's in your brain," Joanne answered. "It's the unconscious part of your brain, sometimes things get stored there without you realizing it."

Mimi imagined a little file folder labeled "Roger" floating into a door marked, "Subconscious" somewhere inside her brain. She concluded that she really needed to stop watching so much television.

"What did you guys talk about all day?" Joanne asked curiously.

"Oh, just random stuff, school, movies, and his parents getting divorced..." Mimi stopped. She realized that she probably shouldn't have said that last part.

"Roger's parents are getting divorced?"

Mimi sighed, knowing she wouldn't be able to get out of this one. "Yeah...that's why he's been so upset."

Joanne nodded. "That makes sense."

"So, enough of this depressing stuff, what do you want to do?" Mimi asked, hopping off of Joanne's bed and standing with her hands on her hips.

Joanne shrugged. "...I don't know, want to watch a movie or something?"

"What movies do you have?"

Joanne walked over to a cabinet next to her desk, and opened the doors. "Nothing too exciting," she replied.

Mimi took out a few movies and read the covers. "Hm...the whole _Harry Potter_ collection, _Shrek_, _A Series of Unfortunate Events_..." Nearly every PG-rated movie ever created. "God, Joanne, don't you have anything good?"

Joanne shrugged. "I'm not really allowed to watch any thing else," Joanne replied sheepishly.

"Aw, I didn't mean it like that," Mimi responded. "Don't get me wrong, I love _Shark Tale_, but I've seen it so many times I could probably recite the whole movie!"

Joanne giggled. "Well, my parents have a bunch of movies; we could ask them if we could look in there?"

"Sure," Mimi replied, and the two went downstairs to ask permission to watch some "older" movies. After a five-minute interrogation from Mrs. Jefferson, who wanted to make sure Mimi was allowed to watch such movies, the girls went into Joanne's parents' bedroom to look for a movie.

Joanne opened up a cabinet, filled to bursting with movies. "Wow, I've never even heard of half these movies!" Joanne exclaimed.

"_Chicago_! They won't even let you watch that?" Joanne shook her head, while Mimi opened up the DVD case. "Let's watch it!"

The girls watched the movie in Joanne's room. When it was finished, Mimi's mother had arrived to pick her up.

_Maureen_

Maureen stood in front of her bedroom mirror, checking her make-up and hair for what felt like the umpteenth time that night. Mark's mom was due to pick her up any minute. She had to look perfect; tonight was her first "real" date. Maureen stepped backward to peer into her full-length mirror and admire her outfit. She was wearing the black mini-skirt she'd bought the previous weekend at the mall, along with a somewhat tight-fitting white tank-top with lace across the top. Her outfit was completed with her favorite denim jacket and a pair of open-toed black shoes with a little heel.

Maureen walked into her living room and grabbed her purse from the couch, where she'd left it earlier. She began pacing back and forth on the hard wood floor, tripping on her shoes every so often. Maureen then peered out the window. No Mark yet. Maureen sat down on the couch, wringing her hands and breathing deeply. She was so excited, and yet she was so nervous at the same time. She hoped Mark would arrive soon; the anticipation was killing her.

_Mark_

"Ooh, Mark, you look so handsome!" Mark's mother cooed, smoothing out the shoulders of his shirt. Mark wished she'd shut up; he was nervous enough. He wished she'd stop making such a big deal about it. He and Maureen were just going to the movies; nothing unusual about that. It was _not_ a big deal.

..._How_ could he be so calm about this? It _was_ a big deal! It was a _huge_ deal! This was Mark's first date, with the girl he'd been crushing on since...forever! This could quite possibly be the most important day of his short life. _I think I'm gonna be sick_, Mark thought miserably. Why had he gotten himself into this?

"Ready to go?" Mrs. Cohen was standing at the door with her keys. Mark nodded, feeling a lump forming in his throat.

Mark was quiet during the car ride. He was thinking, analyzing every bit of the coming events of the night, and what could go wrong. What if Maureen didn't like the movie they picked? What if it's sold out? What if Mark suddenly doesn't feel well? What if _Maureen_ doesn't feel well? What if, halfway through the date, Maureen realizes that she made a huge mistake in going out with Mark?

Mark had forgotten how closely he lived to Maureen. They had already pulled into her driveway. Now what? Was she going to come out on her own, or was he supposed to go to the door and get her?

Mark's questions were answered when Maureen came strutting out of her front door, a smile playing on her face. Mark thought she looked gorgeous.

"Hey, Marky," Maureen said when she opened the car door and sat next to him. "Hi, Mrs. Cohen!" she added to Mark's mother.

"H...Hi, Maureen," Mark mentally kicked himself. He sounded so nervous. _Play it cool. Don't show your nerves so much_, he thought to himself.

The two sat in silence for the next ten minutes. Mark shifted awkwardly from time to time, looking at Maureen. He wondered if she was feeling uncomfortable, too. Then again, Maureen never seemed to be uncomfortable. She always looked as though she belonged, as if nothing fazed her.

Finally, after long last, Mark's mother dropped them off in front of the theatre. Mark and Maureen set off awkwardly.

"So...what movie are we seeing?" Maureen asked.

"I don't know...what's playing?" Maureen shrugged. The two went over to the ticket counter, and, to their dismay, both _Stranger Than Fiction_ and _Employee of the Month _were sold out for the eight o' clock showing. The two didn't want to wait around for the next one, and the only movie they'd be allowed into was _The Grudge 2. _Mark was a little leery, but Maureen promised he'd be alright. After much coaxing, they bought tickets, popcorn, and soda and sat down at the back of the theatre.

Mark decided it wasn't so bad at the beginning. Although, the second something frightening happened, Mark was prepared to shut his eyes. He seemed to be the only one who was a little uneasy; everyone else was glued to the screen, including Maureen.

By about an hour into the movie, Mark was shaking like mad. He was so scared that he was considering running out of the theatre and leaving Maureen, who seemed to be enjoying it. "Wow, did you see that?" she hissed excitedly, while Mark had his eyes clamped shut and was hiding behind the tub of popcorn.

"Aw, Pookie, don't be such a baby," she cooed, taking the tub out of his grasp. "Open your eyes, it's not scary!" Mark shook his head vigorously. "Please?" Maureen squealed. "For me?" Mark sighed and opened his eyes, closing them immediately when he looked at the screen. He clung onto Maureen's arm, still shaking.

"Hey, Marky," Maureen whispered after a few minutes. Mark opened one eye cautiously, focusing it on Maureen, who giggled. "Do you wanna get out of here? You look petrified."

Mark _was_ petrified. But he didn't want to ruin Maureen's night. "No, I'm...I'm okay..."

"I don't care, I don't like the movie anyway," she replied.

"Are you sure?" Maureen nodded. Mark stood up and hurried out of the theatre without looking back. While he was trying to figure out what to tell his mother, Maureen shrieked in excitement. "I just had the best idea!"

"What?"

"Let's sneak into _Employee of the Month_!"

Mark gasped. "No way!"

"Come on, it'll be fun!"

"No."

"Please?"

"No."

Maureen pouted. "Pleeease?

Mark sighed. He was never able to resist Maureen's stupid, but adorable pout. "...Okay-" Maureen squealed excitedly. "-But if we get caught it's all your fault." Maureen nodded in agreement.

Mark couldn't help but worry. If they got caught, they would be in so much trouble. Could they get arrested? He knew his mother would have a fit. She'd probably ground him for months.

_Maureen_

Maureen giggled. Mark could be such a baby sometimes. She wished he'd loosen up a little, have some fun, break a couple of rules. How much trouble could they get in for sneaking into a movie, anyway? They were just kids.

Maureen gestured to Mark, motioning for her to follow him. "Look like you belong," she instructed. "And don't look so nervous." Mark relaxed a bit. The two walked down the long hallway of theatres until they found the one they were looking for. Maureen slowly pushed the door open. She felt a rush of adrenaline that usually accompanied breaking the rules.

The theatre was packed; there were no empty seats. Mark gave Maureen a look of terror, but she just rolled her eyes at him, and motioned for him to follow her. She leaned up against the back wall and began to watch the movie.

"Maureen!" Mark hissed. "We're being so obvious!"

"Shut up, Marky," Maureen said, waving him away like a moth.

Suddenly, the door to the theatre opened. Maureen took no notice, figuring it was probably someone coming back from the bathroom or something of that nature. But she was wrong. An usher had come in, and saw the two pre-teens leaning against the wall.

"What are you kids doing here?"

Maureen barely paid attention to him. "Watching the movie," she said calmly.

"You kids weren't here when I came in here before."

Maureen didn't flinch. "Yeah, we were. You just didn't see us."

"Nuh-uh, you two definitely weren't here."

Maureen just looked at him, not knowing what else to say. She felt Mark shaking next to her.

"Let me see your tickets."

_Oh, shit. _Hoping it would be too dark for the usher to see what the tickets said, she handed them to him. Unfortunately, the guard had a flashlight in his belt. "Come with me," he said after he'd checked the tickets. Mark flashed Maureen a look of terror.

Maureen's first instinct was to start crying. Not enough to look like a baby, but enough to make it seem as though the usher had made her upset, and maybe make him feel badly. It couldn't hurt. She was able to produce a few tears, but not enough to make it noticeable. She quickly pinched herself on the hand, which made a few more tears spring to her eyes. In an attempt to sell it a little more, she wiped her eyes and began sniffling.

This caught the attention of Mark, but not the usher as she'd originally intended. "Are you okay?" he mouthed to her, looking concerned. Maureen nodded, and stopped crying. Clearly, her plan was not working.

The usher took them to an office where the manager was sitting, smoking a cigar. Maureen felt her stomach lurch. She grabbed Mark's hand and squeezed it, too nervous and afraid of what they'd do to her to realize what she was doing. She felt Mark jump a little in surprise.

The manager gestured for them to sit down, and surveyed them sternly. "So, thought it was funny to sneak into another movie, eh?"

Maureen looked over at Mark, who was white as a ghost. She didn't say anything.

"How old are you guys? Nine?" asked the manager, taking another puff on the cigar.

"Twelve," Maureen answered quietly.

The manager sighed. "Well, we can't arrest you or anything, since you're still young. But we _will_ call your parents." Mark gulped.

The manager called Maureen's parents first, who didn't answer the phone the first time. The second time, Maureen's mother spoke to her, and chastised her severely for waking her up (Maureen's mother usually went to bed early) and told her she'd speak to her when she got home, although she refused to come and pick her up, ("In my pajamas? Are you insane?"). Maureen wasn't vexed, however; she knew she'd figure out a way to get out of any of her mother's punishments. Mark fared no better. Maureen could clearly hear Mrs. Cohen screaming at him over the phone, telling him he should be ashamed of himself.

Finally, after long last, Mark's mother came to pick them up, fuming. She was still going on about how Mark was going to be grounded for an entire month, and completely ignored Maureen's presence.

Mrs. Cohen, who was still seething, pulled into Maureen's driveway a few minutes later. "Look, Mrs. Cohen, it's not Mark's fault at all...it was all my idea, and I made him do it...so, don't blame him," Maureen thought it would be good to come out and say it; she didn't want Mrs. Cohen to think Mark was the cause of it all. "I'm sorry, and, thanks for the ride." Maureen miserably exited the car and went to face her mother.

**I had no idea what happens when you get caught sneaking into a movie, since I've never done it before. O:) I just kinda made it up. Lol. **

**Okay, so since SOME OF YOU have this story on alert and aren't reviewing, you know who you are, it's okay, I do it sometimes too, I came up with this little idea that people do all the time lol. So I have five little Rent-trivia questions here, and the first five people to review with at least three of them correct get a little cameo appearance in an upcoming chapter. I'll let you choose who you want to be. :) So here they are. They're pretty easy, in my opinion.**

**1. Who played Maureen in the NYTW version of Rent?**

**2. When did Rent debut on Broadway?**

**3. What song was replaced by "Tango: Maureen"? **

**4. True or False: "I'll Cover You" comes right before "Over the Moon" in the Broadway show.**

**5. How many times does Roger light Mimi's candle?**


	12. A Confession

**GAH. THERE IS NO EXCUSE FOR THIS! It's summer, and I haven't done anything at all, not even update my fanfiction!! When I should've! I'm sooo sorry! You guys have no idea how guilty I feel about this. Anyway, this chapter is...eh. I don't know. It was kind of difficult for me to write. I guess you'll understand when you read it. I'm sorry it sucks so much. XD The CollinsAngel thingy I said would be included is different from what I originally planned, but I like this one SOO much better. The other idea I had was stupid. Oh, and those cameo appearances I promised ARE coming, probably in the next chapter or so, I hope. Thanks to everyone who reviewed! Over 100 reviews! I'm so happy and greatful! Thank you so much!!**

**Okay, this is more important than my babbling. I wanted to be clear on exactly WHEN this is taking place, since it's taken me so long to update and there isn't much indication of what month it is. It is NOVEMBER. I went through it and decided that about two months of school have passed by. I'm skipping Halloween, clearly, just because. I also find it funny I've been working on this story for almost a year and it's only November. I'm just lazy. You know that. I'll stop talking now.**

**Umm, yeah, I own Rent. Of course. And Tracie Thoms is in my kitchen right now, making me dinner, and Adam Pascal is giving me a massage. (ooh boy...I wish!) **

Chapter 11 - A Confession 

_Collins_

"I'm so _bored_, Collins."

Collins was talking on the phone with Maureen for the third time that day. It had been a week since her movie theatre fiasco with Mark. Although she was grounded, Maureen had her ways of avoiding her parents' punishment, such as calling her friends when her parents weren't home.

"I know, Mo. You told me. Four times." Collins rolled his eyes and sighed.

"Can I come over?"

"Aren't you _grounded_, Mo?"

"Yeah...but I could just tell my mom I'm coming over to study or something."

"You're funny. You? Study?"

"Hey! I study! Sometimes..." Maureen giggled.

"Well, anyway, Mo, I can't. I'm going over to Angel's in an hour. He just got a new hamster."

"Oh..." Maureen sounded a little hurt. "I think I'll bug Joanne. See you tomorrow!"

"Bye, Mo." Collins hung up and put the phone away.

_Angel_

Angel checked the clock. 12:55. Collins was due to arrive any minute. Angel was nervous for some reason. He'd never been nervous around Collins before...it was odd. Angel shrugged off the nerves and went to check on his new, pure white hamster, which he still hadn't come up with a name for. He was hoping that Collins would be able to help him.

Angel jumped as the doorbell rang. He hurried to open the door and found Collins waiting for him, grinning as usual.

"Hi!" Angel said excitedly, stepping backward to let Collins into the house.

"Hi. Where's the hamster?"

Angel held out the hamster. Collins gently picked him up and studied him. "What's his name?"

Angel shrugged. "I don't know yet. Any ideas?"

Collins smirked. "Hmmm..." he said thoughtfully, and went back to studying the hamster. "Snowy?"

Angel scrunched up his nose. "Nah."

"Vanilla?"

"What?! No."

"Whitey?"

"Collins, what?!"

"Fluffy?"

"What am I, five?

"How about...Snowball?"

Angel squealed. "That's so cute! I love it!"

Collins laughed. "That was easy," he said. "Does he have one of those balls that he can roll around the house in?"

Angel nodded and led Collins into his family room, where Snowball's cage and necessities were being stored for the time being. "I haven't tried this yet...I don't know where he'll go..." He picked up the little ball, opened the tiny door, and motioned for Collins, who was still holding Snowball, to place him inside. Once the hamster was comfortably inside the ball, Angel closed the door and carefully set it on the ground. Instantly, the little hamster began pushing his legs forward, and went tearing off to the other side of the room.

Collins began to laugh. "It's like he's flying!"

Angel gasped. "He's going to run into the wall!" The two of them ran quickly over to Snowball and stopped him from running into the wall.

Over the next twenty minutes, Angel and Collins amused themselves by watching the hamster roll about the room, keeping him from slamming into the walls and furniture.

"I think he's getting tired," said Angel, catching the hamster as he rolled in the opposite direction. Angel plopped down onto the floor, with his back leaning against the couch. He opened up the tiny door, and slowly lifted Snowball out of the ball and placed him inside his cage. She hamster immediately began to drink water from the water bottle hanging on the side of his cage.

"Now what do you want to do?" asked Collins, taking a seat next to Angel.

_Collins_

Angel shrugged. "Wanna play Truth or Dare?"

Collins grinned. "I come up with the best dares."

"Is that a yes, then?"

Collins nodded. "I'll start. Truth or dare?"

Angel thought for a second. "Dare."

Collins laughed maniacally. "I dare you to..." he eyed the liquor cabinet in the corner of the room. "Go into the liquor cabinet and take a sip of a bottle of wine."

Angel gasped. "But...but...Collins! I can't! I...I...can't!" Angel struggled to think of a reason as to why he couldn't.

"Come on, Ang. No one's around but us. They'll never know." Angel knew Collins was right. His father was at the hardware store, his mother outside, cleaning out the shed or something, and his sister was out at a friend's house. "Oh, all right. I'll do it." He sighed and walked over to the cabinet, throwing the doors open and reaching for the first bottle he saw. Taking a deep breath, he pulled the cork out, with difficulty, and took a swig. Once he had swallowed, he pulled a face. Quickly, he closed the bottle, put it away and went back to the couch. "I don't know what adults like so much about wine, it's so disgusting."

Collins laughed.

"Okay, Collins, truth or dare?"

"Dare."

"Hmm..." Angel tried to think of a dare that would match Collins'. "I dare you to stand on my front lawn and scream, 'FUCK ME!' at passing cars."

Collins raised an eyebrow, not expecting Angel to say such a thing. He shrugged and walked over to the door. Angel followed Collins outside and onto the lawn, just in time to hear him scream at a large white van driving by. Collins and Angel both burst out laughing, falling on top of one another on the grass.

The two friends went back and forth for a while, daring each other to do different stunts, each as weird as the next. Angel had already done the chicken dance on his front lawn, eaten a worm, and ran down the block singing songs by "The Wiggles." Collins had previously walked around the block wearing a towel on his head and a pair of Angel's sister's high heels, and had just finished prank-calling his own mother asking, "Is your refrigerator running?" and doubling over with laughter, giving himself away instantly.

"Okay, truth or dare?" Collins asked Angel, as they wiped away the latest tears of laughter.

"Truth."

"I dare you to...oh, wait, you said truth?" asked Collins, surprised. Angel nodded. "Okay..." Collins said thoughtfully. "Who do you like?"

Angel hesitated, biting his lip. Collins waited patiently.

"Promise you won't run out of my house screaming?" Angel asked quietly.

"Of course," Collins said, wondering who on earth it could be.

Angel took a deep breath. "You."

Collins felt as though all of the air had left his lungs. "Me?"

Angel nodded.

Collins didn't know what to say. "Angel..."

Without warning, Angel burst into tears and ran upstairs, presumably to his bedroom. Collins thought it was best not to follow; Angel probably wanted to be left alone.

Conveniently, Collins' mother pulled into the driveway while Angel had run up the stairs, and was now knocking on the door. Angel's mother opened the door and greeted Collins' mother; Collins gathered up his things and put on his shoes. "Bye, Angel!" Collins called miserably up the stairs and left with his mother.

_Angel_

_That was so stupid, Angel. SO stupid. What were you THINKING?_ Angel thought, throwing himself onto his bed. He couldn't believe he had told Collins. It was so _stupid_ of him. And now Collins would never want to hang out with him again. Or talk to him. Or even look at him.

And then, there was that tiny little piece of him that hoped Collins felt the same way. The way Collins had looked at him after Angel told him...unless Angel had imagined it, in the heat of the moment. Yes, that was it. Angel sighed and flopped onto his bed. He decided that he would just have to steer clear of Collins for a few days. Maybe he'd forget all about what Angel had told him.

Someone was knocking softly on his door. Half-hoping it wasn't Collins, (and also hoping it _was_ Collins, coming to confess his love for Angel) he called out, "Who is it?"

"It's Mom. Can I come in?"

Angel sighed. "No."

"Are you all right, sweetie?"

"I'm fine, Mom," Angel called through the door. He heard his mother walk away from the door and back downstairs.

_Collins _

Collins was quiet the whole way home from Angel's house, and didn't speak when he entered the house. He went straight into his bedroom, shut the door, and slumped down in front of it, lost in thought.

Angel had a crush on him. What was he supposed to do? It was awkward, having one of his best friends, a boy, have a crush on him. Well, Angel always was sort of...girly; Collins had noticed when he met him for the first time. But...was Angel _gay_?

It wasn't that Collins had problems with gay people. He was perfectly fine with it. He was just in shock, that's all.

And then Collins realized that when Angel told him he liked him, Collins was shocked for another reason...he wasn't shocked about the fact that Angel could be gay...but he couldn't figure why else he would be shocked. Collins was so confused he could barely stand it.

_Mimi_

Mimi walked out to the bus stop, where Angel was already standing. "Hey," she greeted her friend, smiling.

"Hi," Angel replied quietly.

Mimi frowned. "You okay, Ang?"

Angel nodded. Mimi shrugged as the bus pulled up in front of them. She walked up the stairs and sat in a seat, scooting over to make room for Angel, who sat next to her without speaking.

"Did you do the science homework?" Mimi asked Angel, who nodded. "I forgot about it until this morning; can I copy yours?" Mimi was usually good about doing her homework, but for some reason she just completely forgot about this particular assignment.

Angel sighed and opened up his backpack, and extracted a folder. He flipped through a few sheets of paper until he located his homework, and handed it over to Mimi.

"Thanks! I won't copy it word-for-word," Mimi clarified and she hurriedly began to re-word Angel's answers to the textbook homework. "Are you sure you're okay?" she asked after a few minutes.

"I'm _fine_," Angel said with force.

"Okay, okay!" Mimi handed Angel's homework back to him. "You know, you _can_ talk to me if there's something wrong."

Angel didn't respond as the bus stopped in the parking lot and the students began to file down the aisle. Angel gathered up his things and exited the bus, leaving a confused Mimi alone in their shared seat. Mimi knew _something_ was wrong with Angel; she just needed to figure out what.

_Collins_

Collins nervously entered his chorus classroom. This would be his first time seeing Angel since he had confessed his crush. Angel was already seated in his section, his cheek leaning on his hand, doodling absentmindedly. Collins walked over to his section, and got himself settled in his own seat, only two seats away from Angel's. He sat uncomfortably, for the students that usually sat in between he and Angel had not arrived yet. Collins wondered if she should break the ice and start talking. His throat seemed to close up as he wondered this, as if it was trying to discourage him from speaking.

The lesson went without any sign of greeting or acknowledgement from Angel, and Collins was very upset by the lesson's end. After putting away his chorus folder in its assigned slot and collecting his books, he looked towards Angel's seat. He had already gone.

_Mimi_

Mimi was currently supposed to be measuring four cups of flour for the latest Cooking assignment, but she was watching Angel. He certainly seemed very off, barely doing his job and looking very upset. He wasn't very talkative, either. Usually Angel had "woken up" by now and was chatty and energetic, but he seemed as distant as upset as he did on the bus.

Maureen approached her. "Is something up with Angel?" she asked, as she cracked a few eggs and added them to the mixture in front of Mimi.

Mimi shrugged. "He says there's nothing wrong, but I think something's up," she replied.

Maureen looked thoughtfully at Angel. "He obviously doesn't want to talk about it."

"Thank you, Captain Obvious, I figured as much." Mimi rolled her eyes.

Maureen pretended to look appalled and punched her friend lightly in the shoulder. "Meanie," she said, before turning back to her eggs. Mimi laughed.

Mark had made his way over to the two girls at this point. "Hey, is something going on with Angel?" he whispered.

Mimi sighed. "I don't _know_!" she shrieked; Mark looked taken aback.

"I'm sorry, I just thought, since you guys are so...close and all..."

Mimi cut him off. "I know, Mark, but...give him time."

Maureen was staring at Mark, who had finally seemed to notice her. "Hi, Maureen!"

Maureen seemed satisfied by this greeting, for she threw her arms around his neck. "Hi, Pookie!"

"This isn't social hour, get back to cooking!" Mrs. Bartels squawked while she was passing the group.

The two broke apart as Roger came over with a measuring cup filled with raisins. "Get a room," he said, smirking. Maureen playfully slapped him on the shoulder and ducked as he attempted to hit her back. "Hey, Meems," Roger said as he approached the counter and dumped his cup of raisins into the mixture.

"Hi." Mimi observed that Roger smelled sort of like cologne. It smelled like he had just come out of the shower, ready for a date. And he'd said "hi" to her! He'd never acknowledged her presence before!

"Mimi? Hello, Mimi?"

Mimi jumped when she heard Roger's voice. "Oh, yeah?"

"You're overflowing the measuring cup, there's flour all over the counter."

Mimi giggled sheepishly as she began cleaning her mess, accidentally bumping into Roger as she went to fetch paper towels. "Sorry..." she mumbled, still embarrassed.

_Angel_

Angel walked silently into the lunchroom, sitting at their usual table. Joanne was already seated, engrossed in a thick book. She jumped slightly when Angel sat next to her. "Hey, Angel," she said, still reading.

"Hi," Angel replied quietly.

"Are you okay?" Joanne asked suspiciously, lowering her book.

Angel sighed. "Why does _everyone_ keep asking me that?" he whined.

"Maybe because you look so down." Joanne replied matter-of-factly. She placed a bookmark in the middle of the book, marking her page, and closed the book.

Angel didn't reply. Joanne didn't pressure him to speak. She merely opened up her brown paper bag and pulled out her lunch. Angel looked towards the door, making sure no one else was coming through. He sighed. "Something...happened this weekend..." he didn't know how to continue, how to put his thoughts into words.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Joanne asked, as the rest of their friends joined the table. Angel shook his head as Mimi and Maureen sat next to him, chattering away. Collins sat across from Joanne, looking as though he was purposely avoiding Angel's eyes. Joanne raised an eyebrow and looked from Angel to Collins, then back to Angel. Angel looked down at his lunch, no longer hungry.

_Collins_

Three days. Three days without so much as a "Hi!" from Angel. Collins began to realize how much he missed Angel. He was beginning to realize that it almost seemed like he _needed_ Angel. He hadn't realized it until Angel wasn't speaking to him. He became conscious of the fact that, when they were speaking, Collins almost _lived _for the times when he would see Angel in class, or between classes, and when Angel would call up just to say hey, or because he was bored... Collins began to realize that, maybe; just maybe, he had a crush on Angel too.

It wasn't as though the truth had just come and hit him like a brick; somehow he knew, in the back of his mind, that he'd had a little crush on Angel all along. Just...how to tell him? Would he be angry that Collins didn't tell him sooner? Would he think that Collins was lying? It was then that Collins knew he would have to tell Angel, no matter what.

**Ugh. The ending was like what. I hated the way it came out; I must've re-written it about five times. I'm sorry it sucks. :) Review anyway, try to find something nice to say. Lol. If any punctuation/grammar etc errors happened to jump out at you, let me know, too. Thanks so much!**


	13. Big Steps

**Greetings. I hope everybody's had a first good month or so of school so far! I've been pretty busy with homework lately; sophomore year is already kicking my ass. :P Anyway, I'm here with an update, obviously. There are some parts of this chapter I liked and some I hate. Ah well, when am I ever totally happy with something I write? XD OH and remember those cameos? They're coming...hopefully next chapter. Haha. Anyway, here you go. Thank you times 525600 for all of the reviews! I love you guys!**

**If anybody happens to notice any errors, let me know. :)**

**PS I changed my username, but it's still the same old me. /corny.**

**I own Rent, of course. And Idina Menzel is at my house right now and-...this is getting old. You get it.**

Chapter 12 – Big Steps

_Collins_

"_Now_ do you understand it?" Collins sighed, after showing Maureen the correct way to solve an algebraic equation with variables on both sides, (she just couldn't seem to get it) for the third time. Maureen scrunched up her face in concentration as she attempted another problem. Collins sighed and tossed his pencil to the side, leaning up against his bed.

He'd been 'tutoring' Maureen for the past week or so. Her math grades were heading south quickly, and her parents told her she wouldn't be allowed to continue with the school play if she didn't keep her grades up. Following this pronouncement, Maureen had frantically called Collins, begging him to tutor her. Naturally, he consented to help, since Maureen was one of his best friends and he was always willing to help his friends out.

And so, here they were, sitting on Collins' bedroom floor, doing the occasional math problem while casually chatting at the same time. Maureen put down her pencil and frowned, looking up at Collins. "I think this is wrong..." she muttered. Collins sighed and pulled her homework towards him again, attempting to rectify her mistake.

There was a good side to tutoring Maureen, one of them being that he got to spend more time with her. It seemed that they'd been growing apart lately, and he was glad to have some extra time to spend with just her. Plus, it was never boring with Maureen around. Also, Maureen was always offering advice regarding his whole 'issue' with Angel. She was very good at getting the truth out of him; his feelings towards Angel being a big discussion topic. She had also been trying to convince Collins to talk to Angel about it, but Collins wasn't sure if he would be able to do it.

After Collins corrected her problem and walked her through the next one, Maureen asked abruptly, "So, when are you going to talk to Angel?"

Collins was taken aback. Leave it to Maureen to be so blunt. "I don't know...if I can do it..." he mumbled lamely.

Maureen clicked her tongue impatiently. "Oh, come on, Collins. I know you miss him. You have to talk to him!" Maureen was right. Collins _did_ miss Angel terribly. He missed making fun of their chorus teacher under their breaths in class. He missed their intense debates over chocolate vs. vanilla ice cream at lunch time. He missed their late-night phone calls and their walks around the neighborhood and games of truth or dare... Collins needed to talk to Angel; he wasn't sure how much longer he could stand being apart from him. He noticed Maureen staring at him thoughtfully, and averted her gaze. "Just talk to him," she said softly.

Collins swallowed hard. "Okay, I'll do it. I'll talk to Angel."

"Good!" Maureen exclaimed, and she stood up suddenly and grabbed a cordless phone from Collins' desk, holding it out to him.

"What are you doing...?"

Maureen rolled her eyes. "You're going to call him _now_, silly!"

Collins sighed and took the phone from Maureen, dialing the familiar number that he hadn't dialed in what felt like years. He took a deep breath as he listened to the ringing on the other end, wishing it would keep ringing forever, preventing him from telling Angel what he knew would be difficult.

All too soon, the ringing ceased and Angel's sister's soft voice replaced it with, "Hello?"

"Um, hi, may I please speak to Angel?" Collins thought it would be best if he didn't reveal his identity to Angel's sister; Angel was more likely to receive the phone call if he didn't know who was calling.

"Sure, hold on." Collins heard Angel's sister walk up the stairs and call, "Angel! Phone!"

Followed by, "Who is it?" from a distance.

"I don't know," replied Novalee.

"Hello?" Angel's voice could be heard on the other end. It was so good to hear his voice; it had been entirely too long.

"Angel?" Collins croaked.

"...Collins?" Angel sounded hopeful.

"Yeah...um, listen, Angel, I need to talk to you."

"Okay," Angel said.

"Um...these past few days, when we...weren't speaking...I kinda realized that...maybe I think of you as...more of a friend...and..." Collins felt his throat tighten, and quickly hung up the phone before Angel could reply.

_Angel _

"Um...these past few days, when we...weren't speaking...I kinda realized that...maybe I think of you as...more of a friend...and..."

Angel listened to Collins' words, hardly daring to believe what he was hearing. Was Collins joking? He _had_ to be joking...Collins was probably just feeling sorry for him and telling Angel he liked him to make him feel better... No. Angel couldn't let Collins do that to him. He didn't need his sympathy. Just as he was about to open his mouth to say so, he heard the dial tone. He punched in Collins' number, before he lost his nerve. Collins answered a few seconds later.

"Collins, I just need to say something." He paused.

"Okay," Collins replied.

"I just want you to know that I don't need you to feel sorry for me. I understand if you're not gay, you don't have to lie to me to make me feel better." Angel felt better once he said it.

Collins sighed. "Ang, honest, I'm not just feeling sorry for you. I might not be gay, but, Angel, the way I feel about you...it's more than friendly."

Angel sucked in his breath. Collins couldn't be kidding or lying. He sounded so sincere, so heartfelt... "Are you sure?" Angel still wasn't completely convinced.

"Positive."

_Mark_

"POOOOOOOKIEEEEEEEEEEEEE!" Mark winced as Maureen's piercing squeal echoed throughout the school hallway. He turned around as a certain brunette came bounding over to him, launching herself into his arms.

"Hey, Maureen," Mark said as he recovered from the shock of his girlfriend's greeting.

"Why so chipper this morning?" Roger questioned from behind Mark. He and Maureen had sort of bonded over the past few weeks. Roger had decided he should start being nicer to Maureen, since she had been spending more time with Mark. He eventually realized that Maureen wasn't as bad as he had perceived her to be; she had grown on him. That's what Roger had told Mark, anyway.

"I don't know, isn't it just a beautiful day?" Maureen asked cheerfully.

Roger shrugged. "It's kinda cold," he replied, sipping from the cup of coffee he was holding.

"_Where_ did you get coffee?" Maureen asked, clearly jealous.

"I took it from the coffee pot; told my mom it was hot chocolate," Roger answered.

Maureen lunged for the cup. "Gimme a sip!"

"No!" Roger jerked the cup out of her reach.

"Please?"

"No!"

"Pretty please!?"

"NO!"

"What are you guys, five?" Joanne had come over to their "meeting spot," which was in the "D" wing, in front of Mark's locker. The group had decided to meet there because majority of them had lockers in the "D" wing, (save for Collins and Joanne, whose lockers were in the "E" wing). It had been Collins' idea, who was sick of being unable to see his friends in the morning. He'd said something about the day getting off to a good start if he was able to see his friends first thing.

"Of course we're five, Jo," Maureen said, giggling, and then bounding over to her friend for a hug. Mark thought he noticed something...different...about the way Joanne looked when she'd hugged Maureen...almost hopeful? Wishful? Maybe he had just been imagining it. Mark was jerked out of his thoughts when Collins and Angel came striding over to the group, side by side, with Mimi a little ways behind them.

"Are you guys..." Joanne started to ask, but Collins cut her off.

"We made up," he answered, smiling towards Angel. Mark looked towards Maureen, who was smiling excitedly.

"I _told_ you! I told you if you talked to him it would all work out!" she exclaimed. Just as Mark opened his mouth to ask what had happened, the two-minute-warning bell had sounded. The group then said their goodbyes and began to disperse to their respective homerooms.

_Collins_

Collins couldn't wait for the day to be over; he was going to take the bus with Angel to his house. It was going to be their first time being alone together since Angel had confessed his feelings. Collins was almost aching with anticipation; he had missed Angel over the past few days and he was eager to spend some time with him.

The day passed quickly without incident, and, finally, Collins was dismissed from his last period class. He went quickly to his locker, then met Angel and Mimi in the back lobby.

"Hey," he said when he approached them.

Angel smiled. "Hi."

Mimi chipped in unexpectedly. "Why are you guys being so awkward?"

"We're not..." Collins mumbled, although things _did_ feel a little bit awkward.

"Whatever," Mimi replied, skipping towards the buses. Angel and Collins followed.

The bus ride passed without incident as well; Mimi insisted that the two boys sit together while she squeezed into the last open seat with a scary-looking eighth grader.

When Collins and Angel entered Angel's house, they hung up their jackets and dropped their books in the doorway. Angel's mother came to greet them, happy to see Collins again, claiming that Angel had been miserable during the days where they hadn't been speaking. Angel turned bright red and mumbled something, gesturing for Collins to follow him upstairs.

Angel flopped onto his bed while Collins stood awkwardly in the doorway. "Would you stop it?" Angel said, irritated.

"Stop what?"

"Being so awkward!"

Collins smiled. "I'm sorry, it's just..."

"No, it's okay. I guess it's a little awkward for me, too. I've never really...well, you know."

Collins nodded. "I guess its better this way; at least one of us doesn't have all of the experience while one of us is a newbie..."

Angel giggled. "At least we can be embarrassed and feel awkward together."

_Maureen_

"Come on, Marky!" Maureen had invited Mark over after school, and he was taking his sweet time walking down the street. Her parents weren't going to be home until around five, and her older brother, Brian, had football (was it football?) practice, so they'd have the house to themselves. It was one of the rare days when she didn't have a rehearsal, being a lead and all, so she figured she'd take advantage of the opportunity.

"I'm coming, my shoe is untied!"

Maureen stopped short, folding her arms and sighing dramatically. Mark rolled his eyes, but picked up his pace.

The two arrived at Maureen's house after another few minutes of walking. Maureen dug into her pocketbook for her house key and unlocked the door. She kicked her shoes off and dropped her books. Mark followed suit.

"What do you wanna do?" Maureen asked, flopping down on the couch in the living room.

"I don't know..." Mark seemed slightly nervous.

"Are you okay?"

"I'm fine."

The two ended up in the kitchen, where they ate cookies Maureen had baked over the weekend, and then they went into Maureen's bedroom to hang out.

"Make yourself at home," Maureen told Mark as she tumbled to the floor, giggling. Mark sat next to her, slightly stiffly.

"Mark, you seem kinda...uptight," Maureen observed.

"I'm okay," Mark replied, shifting his position, slouching against Maureen's bed, at an attempt to prove his point. Maureen shrugged and leaned her head on his shoulder. She felt him tense up slightly, then relax.

The two sat in silence for a few minutes, enjoying each other's company. Maureen broke the silence. "Mark?" she asked softly.

"Yeah?"

She hesitated, not sure if she would alarm him by asking what she was planning on asking. "Can I kiss you?"

_Mark_

Mark felt as though his insides had turned to mush. He began to sweat. Maureen wanted to kiss him? She actually wanted to kiss him? "Sure," he managed to choke out. Suddenly, he felt Maureen's warm breath on his face. He closed his eyes and waited. Finally, Maureen's lips touched his. He felt so wonderful, so happy, that he never wanted to stop. He wanted Maureen to keep kissing him and kissing him until they couldn't kiss anymore. He began to kiss her back, lightly and timidly at first, until Maureen nodded slightly, egging him on. She put her arms around his neck; he put his arms around her waist. Unexpectedly, Mark felt Maureen's tongue brush against his lips. His mouth opened in shock, and her tongue plunged inside. For once, he let himself go and didn't pull away. He let Maureen kiss him until they both needed air. They sat on the floor, gasping. "Wow," was all he could manage. Maureen just smiled.

_Roger_

"For how long?"

"I don't know...it had to be about ten minutes..."

"Dude, you finally got some action! Nice job!" Roger grinned. The two were in math class, and were _supposed_ to be working in pairs on a worksheet. Mark had just finished telling him about kissing Maureen the previous afternoon. Mark grinned back and bent over his math problems. Roger looked down at his paper, his eyes widening at the difficulty of the problem. He tossed his pencil down and leaned back, waiting for Mark to finish the problem so he could copy the work.

"Hey, Mark?" Roger asked after a few minutes.

"Mhm?" Mark asked, not looking up from his work.

Roger hesitated. "What do you think of Mimi?" he asked slowly.

"She's nice. She's a lot of fun. Why?"

Roger didn't answer.

"...Roger?"

Silence.

"Do you _like_ her?"

"...No," Roger said, wishing he hadn't said anything.

Mark giggled. "You _do_. You like her."

"I didn't say that."

"You're blushing, Rog."

"Am not," Roger said stubbornly, although he could feel his cheeks growing warm.

"Ask her out."

Roger folded his arms over his chest. "I didn't say I liked her."

Mark shook his head and went back to work. Roger sighed and put his feet up on the empty seat in front of him. He really did like Mimi. He wanted to ask her out, but he wasn't sure if she liked him back. He didn't want her to turn him down; man, would that be embarrassing. Roger decided he'd watch Mimi closely for any sign that she might like him. Maybe he could ask Maureen about it. Would she tell him? Oh, well. He'd figure something out.

**-bangs head repeatedly on desk- I HATE the way the whole Collins/Angel thing came out. Fllfksdlkfj. Please Review!! If anybody has ANY plot/character/whatever suggestions, pleaseee let me know! You can put it in your review or PM it to me or whatever. Thank you so much :)**


	14. A New Relationship

**AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!**

**I feel so badly about this. You have no idea! I'm sososososo sorry! Thanks to everyone who reviewed the previous chapter; you guys are my heroes:) Those cameos I promised like 525600 years ago are finally here! There's some Roger/Mimi in this one because, um, there really needs to be. And...other things! Yay!**

**PS: I got **_**Jonathan Sings Larson **_**in the mail a few weeks ago, and let me just say, I LOVEEEEEE it! I'm OBSESSED. You all should really get a copy. I bought mine off Amazon; it wasn't too high of a price. I highly recommend it. (I'm listening to it as I type this XD)**

**Don't own anything.**

Chapter 13 - A New Couple

_Maureen_

Maureen walked eagerly into her rehearsal after school. Once she entered the auditorium, she placed her books on top of a chair, pulled out her script and began flipping through it to find the scene they were working on that day: "Summer Nights." Maureen was so excited; "Summer Nights" was one of her favorite songs from the show. Just as she had found the correct page, a girl came walking up to Maureen.

"Hi," the girl said.

"Hi," Maureen replied. She wasn't sure, but she thought the girl looked familiar...maybe they had a class together? "Do I know you?" Maureen asked politely.

"Oh, sorry," the girl said. "I'm Nikki; we have science together?"

Maureen nodded, "Yes! I thought I knew you!" Maureen giggled. "I didn't know you were in the show!"

Nikki nodded. "I'm in the ensemble; it's so amazing that you got Rizzo!"

Maureen smiled, elated. It felt good to be impressing people with her talents. She felt like she was on top of the world. "Thanks!" Maureen flashed a toothy grin.

While this exchange occurred, a girl had wandered over and was listening in.

"Hi...?" Maureen said when she noticed the girl.

"Hello," the girl said dreamily. Maureen then recognized her as another member of the ensemble. "Do you know what time it is?" the girl asked suddenly.

Maureen shook her head, while Nikki checked her watch and told her the time. The girl thanked Nikki and floated away.

"Who was that?" Maureen whispered.

"That's Marci Stenson; she's too eccentric for her own good," replied Nikki. Maureen giggled as Mrs. O'Boyle began to command attention.

The two continued to chat throughout the rehearsal, when the cast was given stretch breaks and things like that. Finally, after about an hour of rehearsing the song, the director allowed the cast to go onstage to begin the blocking. Maureen was standing next to a girl staring into space whose name she did not know, but she knew the girl was cast as Patti Simcox.

"Annabel!" Mrs. O'Boyle suddenly addressed the girl, and gave her a stage direction.

The rehearsal had gone smoothly, besides a few trip-ups. Maureen had kept a close eye on Alison, and noticed that she had been distant and cold, as usual.

_Roger_

Roger sat in Social Studies the next morning with his head in his hands, doodling absentmindedly and not taking in a word of his teacher's babblings. His thoughts strayed to Mimi; during the previous day's Cooking class, he and Mimi had been paired together to work on a worksheet about...table settings, was it? Well, anyway, Roger had been delighted to work with Mimi. He watched her closely as they worked; looking for any sort of sign that might indicate that she liked him. He didn't really notice anything, except that she was awfully smiley. Roger wasn't very good at those kinda of things, anyway.

Roger was suddenly jerked out of his daydreams when his teacher instructed them to pair up with their row partners and work on some sort of activity. Roger was still sitting next to Maureen, who looked as though she had just woken up from a nap or something.

"Are you awake?" he asked her, chuckling.

"Barely," she replied. "Do you know what we're supposed to be doing?"

Roger shook his head. "Not a clue."

Maureen tapped the girl in front of her. "Hey, Lynne?" she asked.

Lynne turned around and smiled. "Yeah?"

"Do you know what we're supposed to be doing?"

"Umm...something with this worksheet...I think," she answered, and giggled. "The Whale wasn't really clear with the instructions."

Roger and Maureen both burst out laughing. "The Whale" was a nickname that their entire Social Studies class had given their teacher one day when she was absent and now whenever she was mentioned, the students used her nickname.

"The Whale made me fall asleep," Maureen said once she stopped laughing.

Lynne nodded. "She's so boring." Maureen and Roger continued to make fun of their teacher along with Lynne instead of doing their work, which lasted until "The Whale" herself came over and separated the two groups, and forced them to work.

The pair had answered about two questions on the worksheet before Roger suddenly asked, "Hey, Mo...this might be kind of a weird question..."

Maureen put her pencil down and looked at Roger. "What?"

"Well...do you think...that maybe...Mimi might have a crush on me?" There. He said it.

Maureen continued to look at him, smirking slightly. "You like her," she said suddenly.

Roger threw his hands up in the air, annoyed. "_Why_ does everyone keep saying that?"

Maureen giggled. "It's obvious, Rog."

"_How_?" Roger asked angrily.

"Well, let's see...You're always talking about her, you're _always_ asking about her when she's not around, and whenever she _is_ around you're always grinning like an idiot and dropping things," she said, counting on her fingers.

Roger folded his arms and huffed.

"Ask her out."

"Mark said the same thing."

"Really?!" Maureen exclaimed excitedly. "It's like we're soul mates!" she said, clapping her hands. Roger rolled his eyes. "We share the same thoughts!" Maureen continued, pointing to her head.

"What thoughts?" Roger asked.

Maureen slapped him on the arm. "Oh, shut up!"

Roger ignored her. "How would I do it?"

"You could...hmm..." Maureen said thoughtfully.

"Don't hurt yourself," Roger said, unable to contain himself. Maureen ignored him, too busy thinking.

"Do you have any other classes with her besides Cooking?" Maureen asked. Roger shook his head. "You could ask her there...or you could call her after school..."

"Nah, calling her is lame," Roger interrupted.

"Okay, then ask her in Cooking today."

"Well..." Roger said, unsure.

"Come on, Rog," Maureen said, putting a hand on his shoulder. "If Mark could work up the courage to ask _me_ out, _you_ of all people can ask Mimi on a date."

Roger laughed. "I guess you're right."

_Mark_

After Social Studies, Mark, Maureen, and Roger exited the class together. Maureen was clinging onto Mark's arm, resting her head on his shoulder. He awkwardly placed his arm around her waist. Roger snorted from behind.

"You're a misfit, Mark," he said. Mark knew he was joking, as always.

"He's _my_ misfit," Maureen replied, squeezing Mark's arm. Roger laughed and walked towards the music wing, while the couple went in the other direction. Mark didn't say anything, and neither did Maureen, although she was very reluctant to leave him to go to her class and let Mark go to his. "Mo, I'll see you in Cooking," he giggled, running his fingers through her hair.

"I know, but..." Maureen smiled. They looked into each other's eyes for a few seconds, when Maureen leaned in suddenly and kissed him on the lips. "Bye," she said.

"Bye," Mark choked out, still recovering from the shock of her kiss. _She has _got_ to warn me before she does that!_ he thought.

_Roger_

Roger entered his Cooking class with his nerves rattling. He put his books on his table and peered over to Mimi's table. She was seated, chatting with Angel. Roger didn't know whether it would be best to ask her now or to wait. Just then, Ms. Bartels walked into the classroom. Roger decided it would be in his best interest to wait.

Finally, class started and Ms. Bartels had given her instructions. Roger clambered over to his kitchen group and took a deep breath. Each time he tried to get Mimi's attention, however, she was either distracted or ignoring him on purpose; he hoped it wasn't the latter. He was beginning to think that this was a bad idea. Maureen raised her eyebrows at him from across the kitchen and mouthed, "Are you going to ask her?" Roger nodded. He tapped Mimi on the back. She turned around. "Oh, hey, Roger!"

Roger suddenly forgot what it was he was planning on doing; he just stared at Mimi with a dumb smile on his face. Maureen kicked him in the shins as she walked past, bringing him back to earth. "Um, Mimi, can I talk to you for a second?"

"Sure," Mimi replied, and suddenly began to giggle. Roger gritted his teeth and he led Mimi over to a quiet area of the kitchen. He swallowed, deciding it would be best to just get it over with. "Um...Would you like to go out with me sometime?"

Mimi giggled some more, and beamed. "Of course!"

"Wow, really?" Roger asked, taken aback at her enthusiasm.

Mimi just smiled. Roger smiled back.

_Mimi_

Mimi thought her head was going to explode from happiness. Roger had asked her out! Mimi had liked him early on, she realized. She was so glad that Roger had the courage to ask her out. When the two returned to the kitchen groups, Mimi beamed at Angel, who beamed back. "Did he ask you out?" he asked her when they were out of earshot. Mimi was too excited to speak, so she merely nodded. Angel squealed and threw his arms around her. Maureen came dashing over as well, and threw her arms around the pair.

_Mark_

When Mark walked into his English class, his teacher was writing a bunch of quotes on the blackboard. He knew that today was going to be one of those "expression periods," as his English teacher liked to call them, where the class would take some time to decipher and reflect on provided quotes about a certain subject. She thought it was a way for the class to take a break from their work and think about life, and develop their own opinions and beliefs, but Mark thought it was just a waste of time. Roger agreed, although Maureen loved these classes.

"Hey, Maureen," Mark said when he reached his girlfriend, and placed his books on the desk next to hers.

"Hi, Marky!" she squealed, although she didn't take her eyes off the board. She pointed towards the quotes. "It's an expression period!" she exclaimed. Mark groaned, along with Roger, who sat behind Mark. Maureen shook her head and continued to copy the quotes into her notebook.

Roger snorted. "Mo, I think this is the only time I've ever seen you take notes," he said.

"I take notes when I'm interested." Maureen smiled.

Soon after, their teacher called the class to silence and began to introduce the lesson and quotes. Mark looked up at the board for the first time and read:

What is art?

"_Art is the tree of life." –William Blake_

"_Art is the chief means of breaking bread with the dead." –W.H. Auden_

"_True artists scorn nothing." – Camus_

"_Art is permanent revolution." – Jean Louis Barrault_

"_Art was made to disturb." – Georges Bracque_

"_The true artist will let his wife starve, children go barefoot, mother drudge for his living at 70 sooner than work for anything but their art." – George Bernard Shaw_

"_When power corrupts, poetry cleanses." –JFK_

Suddenly, Mark found himself interested. Instead of choosing a topic Mark had usually found boring, his teacher had chosen the topic of art to discuss. Mark immediately began to copy down the quotes into his notebook while Roger tapped him on the back.

"What's art got to do with English?" he asked.

Mark rolled his eyes. "It means art like the expression of art, not just paintings. Writing, and singing and stuff, too."

"Oh."

Maureen shot her hand into the air at that point. Ms. Strier called on her. "Maureen, which quote would you like to discuss?"

"The one by Jean Louis Barrault," Maureen replied. Ms. Strier nodded, prompting her to continue. "I think it means that art is like a permanent change, like something influential that changes the course of a person's life forever."

"Do you have an example?" Ms. Strier asked, interested.

"Um...well, maybe if someone read a book that inspired them, or changed their life in some way."

"Interesting point." Ms. Strier said, nodded in approval and making a note in her grade book. Maureen beamed. "Anyone else want to define a quote?" The girl in front of Maureen raised her hand. "Stephanie, go ahead."

"I'd like to discuss the first quote." The teacher nodded. "I think it means that everything in the world stems from art. The world would be very different without art." Ms. Strier nodded, and called on another student who agreed with Stephanie.

After their discussion had ended, Mark was suddenly struck with an idea and raised his hand. "Mark?" she sounded surprised to be hearing from him.

"I'd like to discuss the quote by W.H. Auden," he said quietly. "I think it means that, with art, the artist looks into the past for inspiration and a model for their own work."

"Excellent, Mark." Ms. Strier made another note in her book and continued the discussion. The class went back and forth, with Maureen and Stephanie participating in a heated debate in which Mark defended Stephanie and left Maureen to jokingly scoff at him behind her back. Finally, only one quote remained un-discussed and only one person remained who hadn't contributed.

"Roger? Do you have any idea what the sixth quote might mean?"

Roger looked startled at being addressed. "Uh...I think it means...that a true artist will stop at nothing for their art, even if it means that his family is ruined?"

"Good job, Roger." Mark turned around and gave Roger a high-five.

_Joanne_

"Guys, guess what?!" Mimi exclaimed. It was lunchtime. Joanne was seated across from a very excited Mimi. "What?" she asked her.

"Well...Maureen and Angel already know, but...Roger and I are going out!" she shrieked. Joanne smiled, although not completely floored by her news. Frankly, Joanne had expecting the two to date ever since she'd first met them. Joanne had sort of a gift for predicting things like that.

"Wow, awesome!" Collins grinned and slapped Mimi a high-five. And then he looked troubled.

"What's wrong?" Angel asked, concerned.

Collins looked over at Joanne. "It's just... now Joanne's all alone..." he said.

Joanne smiled. "It doesn't matter." Collins didn't look convinced. "Honest. I don't care." But Joanne did care. She cared very much. Over the past few days, watching Maureen and Mark smooching all over the place and being all lovey-dovey, she began to realize the feelings that she had originally characterized as excitement for the new couple, were actually underlying feelings of jealousy. And she was jealous of Mark, not Maureen. Joanne had never considered that her feelings for Maureen were more than friendly. That day, she had just realized it...she had a crush on Maureen. Her best friend. She didn't admit it to herself until that very moment, when Collins had pointed out that she was alone.

Joanne was also worried about the fact that she could be a lesbian. She knew her friends would be okay with it, after the whole Collins and Angel situation; it was her parents she was worried about. They had never come close to discussing the subject of homosexuality. Joanne was anxious about how they would take it. She decided that she just wouldn't tell them. Or anyone. She would keep it to herself forever, and hope that she would just get over her feelings for Maureen.

_Mimi_

Mimi stepped out of the building that afternoon, zipping up her sweatshirt to shield herself from the cold. She'd forgotten that it was almost December. Mimi dropped her books on the ground and sat up against the wall to wait for the three-thirty late buses to arrive. She'd stayed after school for a Math extra-help session. Mimi was just pulling out her iPod to entertain her, when she saw Roger coming out of the building. She screamed, "Roger!" and ran over to him, abandoning her books and pulling him into a hug. Roger looked startled for a fraction of a second, but hugged her back tightly.

"Hey," he said, smiling.

"Hi!"

"What'd you stay after for?" Roger asked, following Mimi back to her spot on the wall.

"Extra help; you?"

Roger snorted. "Detention."

Mimi giggled. "What did you do this time?"

"Um...I might've mouth off at my gym teacher and refused to play gym..." Roger said.

Mimi laughed. "I'm not even surprised."

Roger laughed again. Then, the two just sat together, looking into each other's eyes for a few minutes. Mimi felt Roger's hands interlace with hers. Both smiled at the same time.

"Cold hands," Mimi said, looking down at their interlocked fingers.

"Yours too."

**Excuse the LMC line. I had to. Oh, and the quotes used in Mark's English class are all from J-Lar's Demo of La Vie Boheme from **_**Jonathan Sings Larson. **_**(Told you I'm obsessed). I fell in love with that entire part and needed to add it in somewhere. I'm sorry the cameos were so brief, but I forgot about them (X) and just wanted to put SOMETHING in. I might include the cameo characters in other chapters also. PLEEEASEE review! If you have any other suggestions or anything, let me know! **


	15. Snow Day!

**OHMYGODYOUGUYS (...legally blonde wtf?) I AM SO SORRY!**

**Didja miss me? I hope I still have some readers...it's been like six months since I've updated haha oops. Well, school is/was...basically kicking my ass really hard so I decided to put the story on hiatus until I had more time to sit and work on it. There's a bit of a cliché moment in the AngelCollins part and I hate it but that's okay. :)**

**I was going to skip time and have it match up with now, (aka be spring/summerish) but then I'd be skipping important things, so it's still winter in boho!preteen land. Deal with it. Haa, I kid. But seriously. Deal with it. xD**

**Did everyone see Rent on the Tonys? I thought it was good, but way too rushed. Not enough of the OBC singing. **

**Notice any errors? Tell me. And I don't own Rent, obvz.**

Chapter 14 – Snow Day!

_Collins_

It was finally December, and the holidays were in the air. It was becoming increasingly difficult to concentrate in class, for everyone's minds were so far from school. The teachers were beginning to lecturing their students about their midterm exams, which got everyone frenzied, scheduling study sessions and forgetting to do their homework after being up late all night, reviewing old material.

Collins awoke one Tuesday morning to find a fresh blanket of snow on the ground and a snow day. He celebrated by sleeping in, and then telephoned Angel to see if he could come over and play in the snow and celebrate the day off from school. Angel accepted his invitation, thrilled, and was at Collins' house in a flash.

Collins met Angel outside, dressed in snow gear from head-to-toe. Angel giggled.

"What?" Collins asked.

"You look like...a human-coat or something!" Angel continued to giggle.

"AGHHHHH I'M A HUMAN COAT! RAWRRRRR!" Collins growled, chasing Angel around in the snow until he fell flat on his face. "Are you okay?"

Angel continued laughing. "I'm fine!" He grabbed a handful of snow and chucked it into Collins' face, who retaliated, causing an all-out war between the two until they both collapsed in the snow; Angel lying on his stomach, directly on top of Collins, who was lying on his back.

Collins smiled slightly, and his happiness, lying there with Angel caused him to reach up and kiss Angel full on the lips.

_Angel_

Angel gasped faintly, before he began to kiss Collins back. He couldn't believe this was happening...what if someone saw them? What would they say? Angel's worries suddenly disappeared from his mind as Collins intensified the kiss and placed his hand behind Angel's head. Angel kissed him back, stronger than before, and filled with passion.

_Maureen_

Maureen loved snow. She loved to run outside playing in it, building snowmen and igloos and having snowball fights. She loved to return to the lighthearted days of her childhood, where she could be carefree and have as much fun as she wanted. Ideally, she would share this day with her boyfriend, Mark, but his mother decided that he was not allowed to go out today. Maureen settled for Joanne, who was just as fun, although she wasn't allowed to make out with her.

"I haven't played in the snow in so long," Joanne said and she flopped down on her bottom in the previously untouched snow.

"I love snow. It's so fun!" Maureen squealed, falling backward and making a snow angel. Joanne giggled, tossing a handful of snow in Maureen's general direction, although missing her entirely. "You're really bad at that," Maureen said, sitting up.

"I know," Joanne replied, tossing another handful of snow.

"Hey!"

After the two had thrown snow at each other for a good five minutes, they proceeded to construct an elaborate snowman, whom Maureen named Bob. The two went tumbling back down into the snow again, smiling proudly at their creation.

"Maureen?" Joanne asked quietly after a few silent minutes.

"Hmm?" Maureen replied, making another snow angel.

"Do you ever think about...homosexuality?"

Maureen snorted. "Do you always have to use such big words? Can't you just say, 'gay people'?"

Joanne rolled her eyes and ignored Maureen's comment. "Well, do you?" she pressed the matter.

"Well...yeah, I guess...since Angel and Collins and everything..." Maureen grabbed a handful of snow and stuffed it into her mouth.

"Well, yeah, but...do you ever wonder if you're not entirely...straight?" Joanne asked quietly, turning her back on Maureen and beginning to sweat despite the frigid air around her.

Maureen choked on the bit of snow she had been slurping. "What?"

"Well...sometimes I just...wonder," Joanne said.

"I don't know..." Maureen paused. She'd thought about it, that's for sure. But she wasn't about to let Joanne-or anyone-know. The two sat in silence for another few minutes.

"Do you ever think about it? Being gay, I mean," Maureen asked suddenly.

_Joanne_

Joanne inhaled sharply. "Sometimes, I guess..."

"What do you think about exactly?" Maureen was watching Joanne closely.

"I don't know...sometimes I just wonder...what if I...discovered I like girls...what would my parents say, and stuff..." Joanne trailed off, and lost her nerve to say what was really on her mind. She _wanted_ to tell Maureen how she felt about her; she really did. But she just couldn't find the words.

Maureen merely looked at her thoughtfully. She opened her mouth to speak, when: "Maureen!"

Mark's mother had decided to let him out of the house after all, it seemed, for Mark was suddenly climbing out of his mother's car and walking towards the two.

"MARKYYY!" squealed Maureen, dashing over to kiss him. Joanne sighed, rolling her eyes. "I thought you couldn't come over?"

"My mom changed her mind; she's coming to get me around five." Mark noticed Joanne on the ground. "Hey, Jo!"

"Oh, hi, Mark."

_Roger_

"Hey, Mimi," Roger said on Wednesday, as he walked over to her locker before homeroom.

"Hey!" she said happily, putting her arms around him.

"So, I was wondering...are you free on Saturday?"

Mimi grinned. "Of course."

"Do you like bowling?" Roger asked, hoping Mimi wouldn't think that was a lame first date.

"I love bowling!" she squealed.

"Great, meet me at the bowling alley at seven; sound good?"

"Sounds great."

Roger grinned.

_Mimi_

"Bowling? Really?" Maureen whispered when Mimi shared her news with her friend that morning during Cooking.

"What? I like bowling," Mimi replied coolly, as she poured sauce over English muffins for some English-muffin-pizzas.

Mark appeared at this point with some grated cheese. "I heard you and Roger have a date on Saturday?" he asked Mimi.

"Yep!" she responded. "I'm excited."

Mark made to reply but was suddenly ambushed by Maureen, who put her arms around his waist from behind and kissed his cheek.

"Would you get a room?" Roger said as he came over.

"Shut up, Roger!" Maureen said angrily as Mark's face turned pink.

"I'm only joking, sheesh."

"Excuse me, but do you think we could get back to cooking now, students? This isn't social hour!" Ms. Bartels shrieked from behind them. Maureen jumped and hurried back over to the sink to wash dishes, while the rest of the group continued with their respective jobs.

_Roger_

Roger peered into the mirror, smoothing out his hair. Why wouldn't it lie flat? He was getting ready for his first date with Mimi, and he was more nervous than he was willing to admit. After smoothing out the creases in his t-shirt and attempting to fix his hair again, he exited his room.

"Are you ready to go, Roger?" His mother asked as he entered the kitchen. He nodded.

Roger's mother dropped him off in front of the bowling alley and parked nearby while he waited for Mimi. Finally, after what felt like hours, Mimi's mother's car pulled up at the curb and she climbed out. "Bye, Mom!" She turned to see Roger and smiled widely. "Hi!"

"Hey," Roger said, smiling just as widely. He embraced her and they both waved to Ms. Marquez as she drove away. The two walked side-by-side into the bowling alley and got in line to get their shoes.

"Ah, why do they have to make these so ugly?" Mimi asked as they headed towards their lane, bowling shoes in tow.

"So nobody steals them, probably," Roger said, snorting. Mimi giggled. Roger sat at the computer, trying to program him and Mimi's names into the it. However, he had no idea what he was doing, and ended up typing "sdgfe" as his own name. "What the hell?!"

"Want help?" Mimi asked, shoving him off the stool and correctly typing in their names.

Roger soon found that Mimi was good at bowling. Really good. Roger thought that he, himself was good, but Mimi proved otherwise as she doubled his score. Roger didn't even care that she had beat him, which was unlike him. If it had been anyone else, Roger probably would have sworn that she had cheated. But not Mimi.

"Want a rematch?" she asked.

"You bet!" Roger took his turn and bowled a gutter ball. Mimi stifled a giggle and proceeded to bowl a strike.

"How'd you get so good?" Roger asked incredulously.

"Years of little kids' birthday parties at bowling alleys," she said, laughing.

After Mimi successfully beat him again, the two decided they were hungry. Roger bought a large platter of French fries for the two to share, and sodas. Roger dived right into the fries.

"So, Roger, what's your favorite movie?" Mimi asked, to get the conversation moving.

"Hmm...Probably _Wayne's World_. It's so stupid, but hilarious."

"I've never seen that one," Mimi replied, reaching for a fry. Roger proceeded to explain the movie's classic jokes to her. Soon, there was only one French fry left. Mimi raised her eyebrow and reached for it at the exact same time as Roger. The two grabbed at it so forcefully and it got squished and broke.

"Oops!" Mimi said. Roger laughed.

All too soon, it was time to leave. Roger and Mimi headed towards the front doors to wait for their parents to come pick them up. Mimi shivered. Roger put his arm around her waist and pulled her closer. The two stood in silence for a few minutes, enjoying each other's company. Suddenly, Mimi's mother pulled up at the curb. Mimi gently eased out of Roger's embrace and looked him in the eye.

"Bye, Roger," she said, and leaned in closer, pecking him lightly on the

lips. Roger raised an eyebrow and quickly kissed her back.

"Bye," he replied. And she was gone.

**blahhh. Their date was really rushed, I know. I didn't want to skip it but I didn't want it to drag. Actually, the whole chapter was insanely short and a little rushed. Oops? (It's better than nothing, though. Right? hee) So anyway, please review!**


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